The Serial Predator

Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sex.

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*Once again all the thanks to BlackRandl1958. She's helped me so much. I couldn't do this without her.*

The past few months there had been much tension in the lives of Erica and Ben Francis. Erica was really uncertain of how her husband was going to react with the latest news. The degradation in their relationship may have started six months prior when their best friends Jenifer and Steven Edwards divorced. Jen and Erica had been coworkers, and as couples they were best friends. Steven and Ben had so much in common, often when they socialized, they forgot that their wives were colleagues.

Jen had cheated on Steven, and Erica was aware and did nothing to stop it. Jen didn't just cheat, she had an ongoing affair with the biggest sleaze in their company. Jen thought that Lance would be plan B if Steven ever found out and wouldn't forgive her. Plan A didn't work out at all for Jenifer, and Plan B was a disaster. Jen and Steven's problems were not Ben's problem. Erica was. Their own intimacy had dwindled down to once every week, to two weeks and there was no love. It was just a quick release for the two of them.

Everything came to a head when Erica had to go a two-day trip with Lance two weeks before.

"I'm not crazy about you travelling with that asshole." Ben had initiated the conversation.

"Neither am I, but Robert wants me to join Lance. It's just for two days."

"You know he is going to make a pass at you."

"You don't trust me. Have I ever done anything that you should not trust me? I am not Jen." Erica yelled back at her husband.

"No. But he's going keep on trying until he succeeds. Did you ever say anything to Robert about his inappropriate behavior?"

"I did. Robert has told Lance that if he ever lays a finger on me or anyone else in the office, he is history."

"Well, he laid more than a finger on Jen. she is history and Lance is still happily employed and screwing up other couples' lives. And what about all the sexually aggressive comments that he makes?"

"He has constantly denied ever saying anything to me, and Jen was the first person that he ever had an affair with, in the office. By her own admission, she claims that she initiated it, and she was happy to divorce Steven. She was in love, or thought she was in love, with Lance."

"She found out the hard way, after Steven dumped her beautiful ass. Lance followed suit and did the same. Only then did she come crying back to Steven, but it was way too late for that. He saw right through her. And you, my darling wife, did nothing to help your friend and our friends. Thank God Steven believed me when I told him that I knew nothing about it. Had I, I would have told him sooner. How many couples has that asshole broken up already?"

Erica just looked at her husband.

"What do you want from me? I told Jen that she was playing with fire. I told her that all Lance wanted was to get into her pants. She really believed he loved her. She also believed that she could smooth things over with Steven and stay with him just for the boys. She was very confused, selfish and it cost her. And what's this about her beautiful ass? Keep your eyes off her, you pig."

"Well, maybe you should work on yours."

Ben stopped himself.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't called for."

"You're the asshole, I'm sorry if I put on a few pounds in our 15 years. You do have two beautiful daughters; besides, Lance likes it. He says he'd love to bang me from the back. Maybe I should just let him."

"Go ahead, and you and your friend Jen can hang out together all the time. Just remember, Steven got custody of their boys, and if you cheat on me, you can say goodbye to your girls."

"Enough, this is ridiculous. I'm not sleeping with that brute or with anyone else. I love you. Why do you constantly accuse me?"

"Well, it would be nice if you showed me some love sometimes."

"How about if you show me some?"

The conversation ended.

Two days later, Erica flew out with Lance to a potential new client in St. Louis. The flight was around two hours from JFK. Erica called Ben when she arrived in the hotel and told him her room number. She also gave him Lance's room number, which was on a different floor in the same hotel. Erica said that she did not take up Lance's offer for dinner and went straight to her room. She would meet Lance for breakfast before they headed over to the client at 9:00 AM the following morning. Dinner the following evening would be with the client and the last evening there was no dinner, as they had a 6:00 PM flight back to NY. Lying in bed alone on the first evening she had time to reflect on the past year of her life. Up until then, she thought she was happy. She remembered when she discovered that something was off with Jenifer. It was almost a year to the day.

*****

Jen and Erica carpooled. Erica was driving that day and she wanted to get home early because Abby, her youngest, had a birthday party at a friend's house. Erica had promised Abby that she would help her get dressed. She didn't remember being so fussy over clothes when she was ten, but maybe she forgot. That was 26 years in the past. Erica had called Jen's extension and Jen wasn't answering, so she ran up a flight to Jen's desk and didn't find Jen, but saw that she had marked down in her calendar, "Meeting with Lance." Instead of calling Lance's number, Erica now ran up one more flight and just opened Lance's door to get Jen. She should have knocked.

"Oh shit, don't you knock," barked Lance at Erica.

Erica was in a state of shock. She was staring at her "adulterous" best friend who had her blouse open and was lying on Lance's desk. It appeared that Lance had his fingers up her skirt.

Erica turned away

"I'm sorry, I didn't... shit, Jen, I told you I need to leave early today; how soon could you be ready?"

"Two minutes."

"Okay, I'll wait in the car, please hurry."

A few minutes later, Jen got in the car as Erica started to pull out. Neither said anything. Jen had to break the silence.

"I'm sorry you found out that way. I was going to tell you."

"Are you fucking crazy? How long is this going on?"

"About three months, right after the end of the year parties."

"What are you doing? Steven will throw you out in a second. You have two small boys."

"Erica, I love Lance, he is wonderful, besides, Steven doesn't have to find out."

"Why?"

"Erica, he is a truly sensitive man and he is a great lover. He wants me to leave Steven and marry him. Ever since his wife divorced him, he is so lonely."

"Jen, I heard his wife left him because he cheated on her. That was five years ago. And since then, I heard he has slept with three other women, all married and got two of them divorced. Only one of the wives was able to reconcile with her husband."

"The woman his wife caught him with was not married. He only slept with her because he assumed his wife was cheating on him. Only later did he discover that Olivia (the girl he slept with) lied to him because she had a thing for Lance's ex-wife. He really loved his ex-wife, but she took him for everything. He is paying so much just to have supervised visitations with his children."

"You, believe that?"

"Yes, why would he lie to me?"

"Because Lance always lies, and what about Steven, did you fall out of love with him? He is a devoted father and from what we can tell, a good husband."

"Steven is a devoted father, but I wouldn't call him a good husband. He doesn't beat me or yell at me and isn't very demanding, but on a scale of one to ten in the romance department, Steven is a two or three. Lance is a ten.

"And one more thing, Lance is really big down there. Not that it's important and I thought it would feel much better; it doesn't. But, for my own self-esteem, I know that I can take him and that helps my ego."

"What are you talking about? You just said that you have learned that size doesn't matter, but in case it did, your ego can handle it. You are going to fuck up your marriage because of your ego?" She actually raised her voice to her idiotic friend.

"Erica, you don't understand what it's like to have a man worship you. He pursued me so much, he thinks I'm beautiful, he makes love to me and really is concerned about my sexual needs."

"And Steven isn't? "

"He is, but it's not the same thing."

Erica was about to drop Jen off when she said one last thing.

"Erica, if you really value our friendship, please don't say anything to Ben."

That was a tough one for Erica. She never kept secrets from Ben. A week later, the two couples went out together. Erica was very quiet the entire evening. When they arrived home, Ben asked

"Honey, is everything okay? You were awfully quiet tonight."

"Yes, just feeling a little tired. Steven seemed like he was in a good mood, had us all laughing all night long."

"Not all of us, I didn't see you laugh, just smile from time to time. Is there something you want to share with me?"

"No, Honey. I'm fine."

*****

Ben let it go, but a few weeks later he brought it up again when Steven confided in him that he thought Jen was cheating.

"Erica, I met Steven tonight. He is beside himself; he thinks Jen is cheating on him. Do you know anything about that?"

"No, should I say something to Jen?"

"I'm not sure. On the one hand you shouldn't get involved and we can't take sides; on the other hand, you probably should feel her out."

The following day Erica met Jen at lunch.

"Have you ended that thing with Lance yet?"

"Don't speak about it here, I told you I'm not going to."

"Well, a little birdie says you better make a decision soon, Steven said something to Ben."

"Shit, what did he say?"

"That he thought you were cheating on him, that's it."

"But did he say with whom?"

"Ben didn't say and I didn't ask. I tried to act very surprised. Ben asked me to snoop, but not accuse you."

"Just tell Ben that from your snooping, I said how much I love Steven and that I'm very happy."

"Got it. Jen, you know this isn't going to end well, for someone."

"I guess, but I will either have Steven or Lance in the end, I will probably need to start planning. I'm just not sure what I want. I guess If Steven catches me, I will end it with Lance. He will probably make me quit and maybe sue the company. He can be all uppity at times. I really don't want to lose Lance."

A few weeks after that Steven called Ben at home and filled him in. The conversation between Ben and Erica that followed was probably the beginning of the degradation of their relationship.

"Steven just called. He wanted me to know right away. He moved out and has started divorce proceedings."

"What? Why?"

"He hired a PI and got evidence that Jen cheated on him with Lance Taylor. That scumbag keeps on sleeping with married women. Why does Robert keep him on?"

"Lance is a really good salesman, and what he does in his private life is not Robert's concern nor the concern of the company."

"It is if he sleeps with a colleague, and Jen is a colleague. Wait a minute, did you know?"

Erica nodded

"For how long?"

"How long has it been going on or how long did I know?"

"Both." Ben had some anger in his tone.

"I have known for about two months; they have been together about five months. Before you get pissed at me, Jen didn't confide in me, I caught them and she swore me to secrecy."

"From me?"

Erica nodded.

"Since when do we keep secrets from each other?" Ben was really angry now.

"Calm down, I didn't know what to do. She begged me not to say anything to you. She probably figured you'd run and tell Steven. She didn't want to stop seeing Lance and she didn't want to ruin her marriage."

"So you decided that keeping a secret from me is okay? This isn't like some random colleague of yours sleeping around, this is my best friend's wife, or soon to be ex-wife.

"And she didn't want to ruin her marriage? As soon as she spread her legs for another man she ruined her marriage. In the end, Steven found out, so it wasn't from me and all that you accomplished by keeping a secret of that magnitude from me, is create a complication in our relationship."

"I... I didn't see it that way. I'm sorry."

"No you're not, you chose Jen over me."

Ben grabbed his car keys and said, "I'm going to meet Steven at the Holiday Inn; don't wait up for me."

For the first time Erica realized that she made a major mistake. She would have to hope when Ben got back, she could apologize properly. That didn't happen. Erica fell asleep around 11:00. She woke at four AM and didn't see Ben in their bed. She looked around the house and saw him sleeping in the guest room. She decided she needed to wake him and talk to him.

"Honey, why didn't you come to bed?"

"Wha... What time... What time is it?"

"It's four o'clock; why didn't you come to bed?"

"Shit Erica, why did you wake me? I got back an hour ago. I need to sleep."

"Okay, but you have a bed upstairs with me."

Ben just turned over and ignored her. Erica started to realize the severity of his anger toward her. His best friend was really hurting and his wife, in this case, she, could have maybe helped him.

Erica left the room with some tears. She didn't sleep the rest of the night. At six, she got out of bed and made her first cup of coffee. At seven, she got the girls up and made breakfast for everyone. The girls left for school by eight, and Ben finally woke at around 8:30. He showered and dressed. Erica heated up his eggs and made him fresh coffee. Ben just left to go to work without a thanks or a goodbye.

That evening he was very cold to her, but when the girls went up to their rooms, he finally broke the silence.

"I'm still trying to internalize everything that happened here. I don't think I am going to get any satisfactory answers."

"You're right. I screwed up; I was wrong. I was never in a situation like that and I made a very poor decision. I lied to you. Yes, I am saying it first. You haven't accused me, but I knew and you knew that I knew something, and when you questioned me, I denied knowing anything, when in fact, I knew all along. Please tell me how I can make it up to you?"

"I don't know. As I said, I am trying to digest what happened. I hope time heals all wounds. Right now, I need to focus on Steven. I hope I can share things with you that won't get repeated to Jen, but if you feel compromised, I won't say anything.

"I don't know what to say. I'm not sure."

"I assume you know why she cheated?"

"I know what she told me; she loves Steven, she just didn't feel that he romanced her enough, Lance did."

"Boy, is that girl stupid. Lance didn't romance her, he seduced her. She was not his first and she won't be his last. He is on a mission to destroy as many couples as he can, because he couldn't keep it in his pants and stay committed to his own wife."

"How do you know so much about Lance?"

"As I told you, Steven hired a PI. It's amazing what kind of information those people can get. I read the entire report."

"What does Steven intend to do?"

"That's the real interesting part, initially he thought he could get her to stop and he would stay with her for the kids' sake. He had some conditions. She had to quit work and sue the company. They had to go for counselling. There were others. She was hesitant, especially about suing the company. She asked him for a few days. He stayed in the house but moved into their guest bedroom. Can you believe that within 48 hours she slept with Lance again? That was the straw that broke the camel's back. He moved out. He had already been to an attorney. He is having her served tomorrow in the office, and you better not say a word. I am sorry to tell you this, also but he is also going to sue your company. Please let it all play out tomorrow.

Erica was silent. She wasn't sure what she should do. In the end, she called in sick the following morning. She got two calls that day from work. One was from Jen. She was sad, not hysterical.

"He served me today. I guess you knew."

"Yes, Ben told me last night. What are you going to do?"

"I won't fight him on anything but custody. He wants full custody of the boys. Says that I am immoral and a bad example as a parent. Only wants to allow supervised visitations. He actually gave me a chance and I went to break it off with Lance. Somehow, I ended up in Lance's bed after Lance promised that it was fine and that we can finally be together. I am such a fool. Steven had me followed and had pictures of me with Lance.

"I agreed to a mediator. I need to get an attorney. Lance was going to recommend someone."

"Are you sure you can trust Lance?"

"Erica, he loves me and as soon as I am divorced, we will marry. I told you, he was plan B."

"Jen, you know this is the end of our relationship as couples. At least we can see other in work."

"No, I had to resign. Steven sued the company. Robert spoke to the two of us. He said that in order to minimize the damage, one of us had to step down. Lance and I agreed that it should be me."

"Jen, I'm sorry. Well, I hope we do find some time to meet. Ben won't be very happy about that, and after my last screw up, I won't go behind his back."

"What do you mean, screw up and behind his back?"

"He figured it out: that I knew and didn't share with him. I told him that you swore me to secrecy, so he said that I chose you over him. He said that it got me nowhere, since Steven found out anyway and I created tension between us by not sharing with him. So, if I ever go to meet you or speak to you, Ben must know about it."

"Would it help if I speak to Ben?"

"Maybe, but not now."

"Okay, talk later, bye".

"Bye, Jen."

The second call that she received was from Robert. Although she was not named as a witness in the suit, Robert wanted to know from Erica what she knew. They agreed to meet the following day.

****

Lance's lawyer was a dud. Lance had no intention of helping Jen. He just wanted to screw her. He was on a mission and this was going to be a third success. Jen was totally reliant on Lance, and had lost Erica as a confidant. Ben did allow Erica to meet with Jen, but wanted a report. Lance convinced Jen to stop seeing Erica until the divorce was final. Jen finally admitted to her parents that she was splitting from Steven, and her mother got a bit involved and realized that she was about to lose everything. Lance didn't approve of Jen's mother's involvement, and their relationship started to fizzle. Jen later realized that Lance had played her all along. Jen's mom got Jen to change attorneys then Lance dropped Jen completely. Jen called up Erica and she was distraught.

"He is such an ass. This was his plan all along. He totally fucked me up."

"What did he do?"

"My mom's attorney showed me how he and his attorney admitted to things that we shouldn't have. He just wanted to screw me from the beginning. I pleaded with Steven to give me a second chance. He has moved on, but he was a bit more equitable about custody. He agreed to give me 2 days a week: one weekend and one weekday. He wouldn't budge on alimony and now I am out of a job, don't have much in alimony and no Lance."

"Jen, I am so sorry. I tried to warn you. I guess I didn't do a good enough job."

"Right now, I have to start my life over again. I tried to warn Robert, but he wouldn't listen to me. He settled for a bunch with Steven, but I have no idea how much. Steven gets the money, kids and I have nothing.

"Erica, do you think that we can get together with Ben? Does he hate me that much? In the end, I was played."