The Seven Deadly Sins: Hubris

plaA few moons ago, Gotbacon wrote in the foreword to his 'One Stupid Mistake,' "I think I can safely say that every possible scenario has been covered in LW on how a wife was caught cheating, from the strange car in the driveway and to seeing her with her lover on a traffic camera."

I think it's important for people not to believe statements like this. Nor statements that all consequences have been taken. If you do, you won't try to think of something original. Like I think I did below.

I shamelessly admit that this story was inspired by Bigguy33's, 'We Need to Talk'. In fact, some of his words were so powerful, I stole them. To demonstrate he's a big guy in spirit, as well as body, I can happily report that he endorsed my plagiarism.

Much to the loving wife's frustration, there is no sex in this story.

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hubris

[ˈhjuːbrɪs]

NOUN

excessive pride or self-confidence.

Chapter 1

Laura and Pete were sitting in the departure lounge of flight 3425 for Bali, holding hands. After all the planning and packing, it was nice to be finally through all the formalities. Laura closed her eyes, it had been a very early start after a late night of sex. She needed this holiday, it had been a long year. Yes, two weeks of sun and sex. Just what the doctor ordered. Pete let her hand go to pull his phone out of his pocket when he heard the message signal.

"That reminds me, Laura, don't forget to turn your phone to flight mode."

"I didn't bring my phone."

Pete distracted himself by looking at the screen of the phone. Laura was admiring his face when she saw it tense.

"What is it, Pete?"

Pete nervously handed the phone over and she read, 'Peter Ower, lay one hand on that woman and you will regret it for the rest of your life.'

"God, Pete, you fool. You must have tipped off your wife, she knows." Laura joined Pete in looking around at all the visible faces in the lounge area.

"Impossible, Laura. I packed everything last night when she was in bed and put my cases straight in the car. She almost killed me with sex when I finally made it to bed and gave me a nice kiss this morning. It can't be her."

"It must be a wrong number then, Pete."

"No, it mentions my name, see. Could it be your husband?"

"Don't be silly. He has no idea either. He thinks I'm going interstate for a two-week training course. Besides, how would he know your name and number. We've been incredibly discreet, absolutely no one knows about us. Whose number is it from?"

"No one I recognise. I do have some whacky friends and I wouldn't put it past them to play a prank on me. Tell you what, I'll ring Penny, you ring your husband. See if they sound anything but normal."

Laura watched as Pete hit a speed dial number. It wasn't answered, so he left a message saying he was missing her already. Pete hung up and looked at Laura quizzically.

"Are you going to ring your husband?"

"I didn't bring my phone."

"You can use mine."

Laura started reaching for the proffered phone, then they both realised how stupid that might be. For the first time, Laura began to regret a decision she'd made.

Further conversation was interrupted by the call to board the plane. They stood in the line together but were no longer comfortable to hold hands in public. Laura noticed Pete scanning their fellow passengers for familiar faces. Laura found it vaguely amusing. He continued his search as they travelled to their seats. They took their assigned positions and once seated, Laura looped her arm in his and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Why didn't you bring your phone, Laura?"

"It's all part of my cunning plan, you'll be proud of me for it, I'll show you once we're airborne."

Half an hour later, the plane was at cruising height and Laura dragged out a laptop from her carryon. She fired it up and navigated to a Word document.

"I've made an investment in our future, Lover. When my husband goes to bed tonight, he will find a letter from me. If he doesn't agree with what's in it, we've lost nothing, if he does then this trip will only be the start of a new life for both of us. Here's a copy."

She handed the computer to Pete.

My Darling Husband

I love you and only you and have since we met 25 years ago. I look forward to spending the next 25 years with you or longer. It's what I've always wanted and what I still earnestly want. I love you more and more every day, and I've happily dedicated my life to taking care of you and our wonderful children. With the exception of some visits with friends, I've asked very little for myself.

I know you love me and would always want me to be happy and satisfied. As we love each other, I want to propose something to you. I've deliberately approached it this way so you have a full two weeks to process my idea below. If we did it face to face, then there would be a big danger of you getting all macho on me and saying something that we possibly couldn't get past. I can't risk that. For the same reason, I have left my phone there so you cannot contact me for the full two weeks. I'm not at a work course and no one there knows where I am, so don't waste your time trying to contact me.

Darling, you are a wonderful lover and I never tire of being in your arms. However, I miss the excitement of having sex with other people, enough to risk your wrath by doing what I am. Before you get too pissed off, just keep everything in context. I'm away for two weeks with a friend from work. I have never been unfaithful to you and without your full blessing, never will be.

My proposal is this. With your blessing, I would like to have sex with other men. I feel my needs have grown to the point where one man, not even one as talented as you, can satisfy them. It would never be someone you knew and I promise always to be discreet. In fact, I'll be so discreet, you won't even know when and where unless you want to. The slightest hint that anyone we know suspects what I'm up to, I'll stop immediately. You'll always have me whenever you want me and nothing about that will change. You are my husband and your needs will always come first. I want you to be confident that it doesn't change how I feel about you or the lovemaking we share. In a nutshell, it won't affect us in any way, shape or form.

Think on this for the next two weeks please, Darling. If you love me as much as you say you do, then you will jump at this opportunity to prove it. I know how much you love me and that knowledge will be with me every time I go to sleep at night while I'm away. That's why I believe you will indulge me now.

Please, Darling, think on it for the next two weeks. If your answer is no, then I will abide by your wishes and would appreciate the opportunity to talk some more. I will try not to be offended too badly by any names you call me and your implied lack of trust. However, if your answer is yes, then all you need say is, "The answer is yes," and we need never speak of it again, although I will be happy if you want to.

Your loving wife,

Laura

Pete finished reading and just said, "Wow."

"Yes, it is good, isn't it? I have to admit, I stole many of the words from a story I saw on an erotic fiction site, by a fella called Bigguy33 who wrote 'We Need to Talk.'"

"Why did you call the letter an investment in our future?"

"Don't you see? I've asked my husband for permission to have sex outside the marriage. If he says yes, when we get back, we'll be able to carry on completely guilt free."

Laura added in her own head, 'Well, I'll be able to continue. Two weeks with you and I'm reasonably sure I'll be over you. But, your replacement? Now that's a different story.'

"You're that sure he'll go along with it."

"Of course. I gave the impression he has a choice, but that's only so he can convince himself he has control. If he dares to say no, then we'll have to continue sneaking around like we have been. So, how do you love it?"

"It's not bad; forceful and logical. However, this will be a decision he will never base on logic. I hope he's not a real he-man, otherwise it's a little offensive."

"What? No way could he ever take offence at anything in that letter. It took me days to get it exactly right."

"Yes, but you have to see that you could have spent a year and still risked offending him. As a woman, you can never know how men's brains work. My main take-out from this letter is that he is no longer able to satisfy you and that however good he is, he never will. You have to know, Laura, every man is a little paranoid about his performance. The thought of you going with someone else, who may be bigger or better, just fuels that paranoia. Frankly, Laura, there are only two reactions I can see to him reading this. One is to roll over and give in, the other is to come out swinging."

"Well, I think you're wrong. I know my husband. He will appreciate my honesty and think seriously about it. By asking before I've done anything, it's completely risk free."

Pete looked over at his soon to be lover and wondered how much of her own bullshit she actually believed. He was already seeing her in a new light. Sure, he'd bent the truth to get this pass from his wife, but Laura's blatant lies and manipulation of her husband, were, well, disturbing. Part genuine curiosity and part bloody mindedness fuelled his next question.

"How did the Bigguy's story turn out Laura? Did the lady get to pork all the strange she could take?"

He received his answer well before she opened her mouth. Her face became very serious, very suddenly.

"No, her husband threw her out."

To distract her from questioning herself on whether she was doing the right thing, Peter changed the topic of conversation. After all the effort and expense of this trip, the last thing he wanted was for her to develop a conscience and actually do what the letter said she was doing. Having an innocent holiday.

"I didn't tell you about the weirdo I saw in the international check-in, did I? He just stood about 25m away, while I was in line. When he saw I was looking at him, he just stared at me and ran his index finger across his throat in a cutting motion. I looked around to see if he could be doing it to someone behind me, but there was no one. It was creepy."

Laura asked idly, "Oh yeah, what did he look like? The world is full of strange, disturbed people."

"That's the thing, Laura. He looked just like a normal guy. Over six feet, dark hair, goatee."

Peter stopped when Laura sat upright suddenly and fumbled for her laptop again. Firing it up and navigating to some files. She pulled up a photograph of herself and a man, standing in front of a house. In a voice trembling with concern, she asked, "Is that him?"

"It... it could be, Laura. It certainly looks a lot like him. I can't be sure."

Laura looked searchingly at Peter. Would he have an incentive to lie to her? Was he afraid that if she was sure her husband was on to their game, her pussy would be unavailable to him for the next two weeks. For the first time, it occurred to Laura that Peter was someone who was willing to cheat on his wife and was thus fundamentally untrustworthy.

"What was the guy wearing, Pete?"

"That's another female question, Laura. Guys don't notice what other guys are wearing. Didn't you say he dropped you at the domestic terminal?"

"Yes, he did. I convinced him to just drop me off and go. When I saw him leave, I caught the bus to the international terminal."

"So, he would have had to go back to his car, drive to the international terminal and park, then know who to stalk in the check-in line. Pretty unlikely, Laura. I think, more likely it was just a random nut-job."

He knew he had to distract Laura, who was looking far from convinced.

"Is that your house in the photo, Laura?"

Laura, who was looking for a distraction also and was well used to people complimenting her on her house, went into autopilot.

"Yes, it is. Nice isn't it? We bought a property at the beach as a bit of an investment. It's very steep and narrow. You wouldn't believe the house is a demountable would you? It took my husband 15 years but he kept adding and adding to it and landscaping around it. You should see the inside. He's a painter and every room has a theme in frescos. Nautical themes in the bathrooms and lounge. Business theme in the study. I mean, you go into the study and the atmosphere says, 'work,' so you do. I won't tell you what the bedroom theme is. We've won all sorts of awards for the interior design and how the house uses the land. It even has a creek running under the house."

The conversation morphed into talking about their families, a topic they'd steered away from in their relationship until now. They talked about Pete's two children, six and eight years old. Laura told of her three. A 23-year-old girl, Sarah, just finished law school and working as a property lawyer, and her two still at home, Danielle 16 and Larry 13. Laura didn't know it but she was desperately trying to distract herself. It worked for a while. Then, she pulled out her notebook and wrote, lawyer, house and kids. Without knowing if her husband was on to her, she couldn't make any plans regarding him. She knew she had to cover her bases by protecting her house and family though.

After the pair lapsed into silence, Laura began berating herself for being a coward and not thinking about her situation, or possible situation. She pieced together a timeline. She'd packed Thursday night, being very careful not to include anything unbusinesslike or unjustified as wearing on the weekend between the two weekly courses. Bikinis and intimates, she planned to buy in Bali. Her husband had been perfectly normal that night and they'd made love. Friday, she'd gone to work at normal time. They wanted to do major work on her company car, so she'd arranged for her husband to pick her up Friday afternoon. He'd come into reception, waited for her to pack up, then driven her home. They'd taken the kids out for dinner, packed them off to the grandparents, then made love late into the night. She'd been particularly horny, in anticipation of the following night and because of her husband's cluelessness about it. Saturday morning, early start, lift to airport. Laura remembered her nervousness when suggesting her husband just carried her bags to the domestic check-in line and leave her. Every other time, he'd stayed until the plane took off. She'd been relieved when he agreed straight away. She'd watched him all the way to the carpark, then waited until his car drove away. Now, his eagerness to leave took on a darker significance. She matched his behaviour last night and today, with her careful planning. Shit, no one from her work knew anything but that she'd taken annual leave, and her husband didn't know anyone from her work anyway. He couldn't know what she planned. The text to Pete's phone was a friend playing a prank, the guy staring at him in the check-in area, a random nutter. 'Relax Laura.'

What were the consequence if he did know? She'd lied to him about the destination, so what? The letter explained she was going away with a friend from work, without specifying male or female. She hadn't realised she'd closed her eyes until they shot open. She'd imagined her husband was aware of her ultimate destination, at the airport and realised how it would look to him. The deception would make it look like she was sneaking away for exactly why she was sneaking away. That in itself was serious, but defendable with some fancy footwork. However, combined with the contents of the letter, it wasn't in the slightest part defendable. Laura used the rest of the flight to cover her bases as much as she remotely could. The first priority was to destroy a letter, under a pillow, 2,500km away from her ass. Her second was to assure herself that she was unduly worrying herself over nothing.

Always the one to cover every contingency, Laura composed a long email to Sarah, knowing she couldn't send it until Bali. In it, she begged her daughter to go to her house and do two things. The first was to take possession of her phone and divert it to Pete's number. She covered that by saying she was too embarrassed to tell anyone she'd forgotten it and had bought a prepaid one for the duration of the trip. The second one was to retrieve the letter from under her father's pillow. She begged her not to read it, as it was deeply personal, between husband and wife. Mother and daughter were very close, so she knew she could trust her to not only follow instructions but to be discreet about it. As an addendum, Laura asked Sarah to acknowledge receipt of the email, and again notify her when she'd done what she was asked.

As soon as Pete and Laura left the plane at Denpasar airport, Laura sent the email, then, taking a gamble that her husband wouldn't check caller ID, rang him from Pete's phone. There was no answer to any of her calls, then or during the hour it took to clear customs and get to their hotel. That had never happened before and set alarms bells ringing in her head. Just before the taxi reached the hotel, Sarah rang on Pete's phone to confirm she'd done as asked. Laura managed to evade some probing questions on what was going on. When asked if her father was okay, Sarah triggered her mother's decline into terror with her answer. Her father had rung to say he had some thinking to do and was taking the other kids to their holiday cabin in the country. Sarah was going to join them that evening. Laura had asked her husband what he intended doing that weekend and the answer certainly hadn't included the cabin. Worse than that, the cabin was isolated from all 21^st century communication methods. Laura was so distracted, she allowed her daughter to ring off with no further questions.

Chapter 2

Laura's husband has just cooked a BBQ dinner for his three children at the cottage. They are nagging him to take them spotlighting to bag a Wallaby for their favourite campfire stew tomorrow. Sarah has sensed her father was distracted since she arrived but hasn't pushed him on it. They are sitting around for a family meeting. Sarah opened the conversation.

"Is this about Mum, Dad?"

"Yes, she's been acting funny for a couple of months now. Kind of emotionally withdrawn. Then yesterday and this morning, I found out some funny things."

The feeling of dread that permeated the room, was only made worse by their Dad's sigh to end this statement. They knew him as a strong but funny man, rarely serious. They waited.

"Your Mum told me she was going on a two-week course, interstate, for work."

All three children chimed in that that was what she'd told them as well.

"Yesterday afternoon, she asked me to pick her up from work and I did. As I was standing in reception, I saw through the glass of an office that she was talking to a man in his office. Something about the way they were standing or looking at each other, just didn't seem right. She didn't come out for over five minutes and I wandered around reception. There's a wall covered in photographs there, with pictures of all the senior people that work for the company. I recognised the guy she was talking to; his name is Peter Ower. I grabbed his business card off the reception desk. I just couldn't sleep this morning, so I went downstairs. I'm a little bit embarrassed to say, but I looked through your mother's purse. I found her passport in it and when I looked through it, I found a visa stamp for Indonesia, dated three weeks ago. I remembered back to last month when I saw her reading a brochure on Bali."

Their father paused and looked around the room, obviously debating what to say.

"Bali is in Indonesia and isn't 'interstate', it's overseas. I didn't say anything to your mother, it's a big thing to accuse someone of deceit without proof, especially someone you love without reservation."