Those Damn Traffic Light Cameras

Reese laughed. "That depends entirely on my commission. If it's big enough you might get a little something. It depends."

"What about this place?" he asked.

"There will be a very nice reward for both me and the buyer of this house. Let's just go check out the bedrooms and we can discuss my little something after I have your signature on the contract."

I heard their footsteps above, the sliding glass door closing, and the lock clicking. I peered over the top of the deck to make sure they were gone and wouldn't see me as I walked behind the house. I looked in one window and saw a bathroom and another and found an empty bedroom. Looking into another window around the far side of the house I saw Reese and the gentleman standing in the room talking. I couldn't hear what they were saying but did notice that he was standing very close to her. I saw his hand come up behind her and rub her back and down to her bottom. I immediately wanted to run inside and break his arm but I didn't have to, Reese pushed his hand away and with an expression I've seen many times before gave him some very harsh words. He backed away and Reese stormed out of the room. I looked around the corner to the front of the house and saw Reese come back out and stand beside her car. The man came out and over to her a few seconds later.

"I apologize for becoming a little forward in there a moment ago," the man said. "I just couldn't resist a beautiful woman like you. You make my third wife look dull and unattractive in comparison, and she's a former Miss California. I like the house and it would be a perfect private retreat for me. I'll sign the contract at the asking price if you agree to come visit me after I've moved in for a little personal reward time."

"Well, I don't see what harm a little visit would cause, after you've moved in of course."

"Great, now how about that little special something for today?"

Reese just smiled, reached into her briefcase and pulled out some papers and held them out to him. "Hummm, sign the contract and I'll give you a little something now and something more when I come to visit. How does that sound?"

"I can't wait," he said reaching for the papers. Right on the hood of his Mercedes he signed the contract that would make the Harper beachfront house his while Reese stood beside him smiling and pointing to all the places he had to sign. When he was done Reese put the papers back into her briefcase, put it on the front seat of her Prius, and went over to the passenger side of his Mercedes. The man pressed the key fob and unlocked the car with a beep. Reese slid in and sat in the passenger seat while he got in the driver's side. He started the car and immediately I became totally panicked that they were going to drive away, but instead he turned on the air conditioning and put his arm on the seat behind Reese's head and relaxed. That's when it happened. Reese's head disappeared below the dashboard, between the steering wheel and the man sitting there. From where I stood I couldn't see anything. All at once the man laid his head back on his seat's headrest and a silly little smile appeared. I'd seen that smile before, on the traffic ticket. Then the top of Reese's blond head came up above the dashboard and then disappeared down again. Before it bobbed up and down again I started walking.

Quietly I walked between the palm trees keeping one or another of them between the driver's side door and myself. It took only a few seconds to get up next to the car and look in the window. My lovely wife's face was in the man's lap and his pants were down around his knees. Her head was moving slowly up and down sucking his cock and her right hand was playing with his balls. I'm glad I couldn't see her face from where I was standing but I knew what it looked like when she sucked on me. Her head bobbing sped up at the exact time I rapped on the driver's window. The old man's head snapped around and looked at me and Reese yanked her head off his cock and saw me standing there too.

"What the fuck are you doing you pervert," he yelled at me. "Get off my property before I call the police." Reese sat back up when she saw me and put her hands over her mouth. "Come on lady, finish the job," he yelled at her and reached for her head to pull her back down into his lap. She slapped his hand and got out of the car.

Standing on the other side of the Mercedes with tears streaming down her face, she said the words that I expected, "God I'm sorry Brian." Then she ran to her car, got in, and sped off, or as much speeding off as a Toyota Prius can do. The guy in the Mercedes was still screaming at me and punching the buttons on his phone as I walked back to my car and drove home. I had no idea what to expect when I got there. The first part of my plan was over with, I confronted Reese in the act and got everything out in the open. Now I had to go home and assess how much of a marriage I had left, if any.

Each time I drove through an intersection with one of those damn traffic light cameras I became angry at the government for creating something so diabolical, so insidious, that a stupidly simple mechanical device was the instrument of destruction of my marriage. And I gave each and every one of them the finger as I drove past.

Reese's car wasn't in the driveway or the garage when I got home. There was no evidence that she had been there since going to work this morning. I had no recourse but to sit and wait. I thought about waiting with a drink in my hand but booze isn't my style. I sipped on a bottle of water instead.

It was long after dark that I realized she wasn't coming home. Confronting her at the beach house must have been too much and she was gone for good. I turned off the lights and slipped into bed. I hate to admit it but this time I did cry a little.

She wasn't home when I got up in the morning and again I called into work, but this time I talked to my boss and took off a week with 'family problems.' Around noon I called her office and they said she didn't show up for work. I called her sister and two of her best friends and they all said they hadn't heard from her. I had no choice but to sit home and wait. But wait for what?

While waiting I did all the normal stuff to protect my assets as best I could just in case the worst happened. When I got home I sat in front of the TV and waited some more, the TV not even turned on. This time I had a beer. It tasted stale, I guess because of all the bile in my mouth.

Again that night I went to bed alone.

Sometime during the night I heard a noise downstairs. I walked around the house to try to find out what it was but found nothing obvious so I sat in the living room to wait for it to happen again, but it didn't. That's where I found myself in the morning when I woke up, curled up on the couch. And when my eyes opened I saw Reese sitting balled up in the chair on the other side of the coffee table. She was awake staring at me but looked absolutely awful. Her eyes were puffy and black from the ruined mascara smeared all over her cheeks. She had attempted to pull her beautiful blond hair into a pony tail behind her head but it was obvious it was all tangled and knotted. Her clothes were wrinkled and stained with something, tears, coffee, water, something. As I sat up I noticed that she was twisting her wedding ring around and around in her finger.

"I've got to go to the bathroom," I mumbled before leaving the room. When I got back she wasn't in the chair, she had gone into the kitchen and was making coffee.

"I've got to clean myself up too," she said. "I slept in my car and I'm a mess, then I'll make us something to eat. You look like you haven't eaten in days. Then we can talk." I didn't argue with her. I just sat at the kitchen table and watched her. We both ate the first civilized meal in two days without uttering a single word.

Reese started. "I'm sorry you saw that, hell, I'm sorry I did that. I have no excuse for what I did, well, kind of but nothing that's going to change anything. I was more wrong than I've ever been in my life, no our lives, and it all came crashing down around our ears yesterday, or was that the day before. I forget. Anyway, what I did was wrong and it was all my fault. You did nothing to cause it. It's not because of you, it's because of me."

She reached for a napkin and crushed it to her eyes and started sobbing. I just sat and waited for her to finish. A few minutes later she looked out from behind the napkin and asked, "Do you want to say anything, ask me any questions?"

I thought about it for a long time before talking. "I have several questions but don't know if I can trust what you say. It's obvious you've been lying to me about your activities at work so I don't know if any questions I'll ask will be answered truthfully or..."

She interrupted, "Yes, oh God yes I'll tell you the truth. Ask me anything. No matter how hard it is I'll answer everything truthfully. I need this to be out in the open. Please, trust me."

"Okay, I'll give you one and only one chance. Lie to me one time and we're finished. And you have no idea how much I already know." I was bluffing because I didn't know anything more than the traffic citation and the man in the Mercedes. "First, you've done this before obviously, what have you been doing and for how long?"

Reese took a deep breath and looked me in the eye. "What you saw yesterday was as far as I've ever gone. Yes, I've done it before, several times as a matter of fact. It started about three months ago when my boss at work Mr. Finley asked me if I'd like to make a jump in my commissions. I'd been working in selling some of the more mundane, low-end listings and my sales commissions were minimal at best. He offered me the possibility of working the more high-end listings if I joined several of the other women agents in the office in offering, um, special incentives to sign contracts. You saw one of the special incentives yesterday..."

It was my turn to interrupt her. "But I heard you offer more at a later date too."

"Oh God, you heard that? I did offer and it would have been the first time I'd done anything like that. Some of the women in the office will have sex with the clients when they sell one of the high-end properties but any time someone buys anything they give them a blowjob. Since I've only been working on the low-end listings my special incentives were, oh God help me, were blowjobs. Mister Cramer, the guy I sold the Harper house to yesterday, would have been my first time doing anything more than a blowjob and believe me I was scared shitless.

"Since I've started offering the special incentives my commissions have gone way up. From selling the Harper house my yearly commission will more than double. Some of the women in the office make high six-figure commissions. I don't do anything like what they do but I guess I was starting to head in that direction. I'm sorry. I let the specter of big money lure me into something. I really didn't think about what I was getting myself in to. I didn't start out like this but what you saw the other day was what I've been doing for the last few months every time I made a sale."

"And you never thought of us while you were giving your special incentives? How about diseases? Did you ever think about that?"

"God Brian, I always thought about us when I was... After I... Aw shit, I always felt guilty as hell while doing it and even more afterwards, the first couple times I had to go somewhere afterwards and cry myself out. I guess I was getting used to being a whore and didn't feel as bad about it after the first couple times. God, I'm awful!

"I loved the money and the power it gave me and it was nice to flirt with men again, I haven't done that since I stopped modeling, but I hated what it was doing to me, to us, to our relationship, even if you didn't know what was going on. Even though I tried to never be any different around you or treat you any differently at home I knew it was wrong and in the end I was hurting you. Several times I thought about quitting the agency altogether, one time I even talked to Mr. Finley about quitting, but he reminded me that I wouldn't find money like I was making anywhere else. I just kept working and trying to find a way out. Now I guess I've found one.

"As for diseases, I didn't worry about it too much because everyone I did business with was pretty low-risk. But one of the other women who did this suggested I do a background check on the clients before hand and if there was ever a question I could make them wear a condom. And before you ask, yes I did swallow, but I never once brought anything home for you, I cleaned up before coming home, if that means anything to you now."

"Yeah, thanks a lot. My wife services God knows how many men every day and comes home to me to act like the hard-working loving wife who never denied her husband the sex that we owed each other anyway. Thanks a whole hell of a lot."

"No Brian, I didn't do it every day. It wasn't any more than once every other week or so, a couple weeks two. I wasn't doing it every day."

"Great, so that means if you've been doing it for, let's say three months, every other week, that's six or more blowjobs since you started your program of special incentives. Fan-fucking-tastic! And soon you were going to start spreading your legs for clients. For all that I've got to be thankful?"

"Well... I... Uh, I never counted how many times I did it. After each one I just pushed it out of my mind. Shit, I guess I am a whore!'

"No argument from me there."

We both sat quietly for a while thinking about everything. I'm pretty sure nothing was resolved yet.

"Brian, can I ask you a question?" Reese said in a quiet, mouse-like voice.

"Sure, ask me anything. No matter how hard it is I'll answer everything truthfully."

"You don't have to throw my words back in my face. I know I screwed up big time but I want to try to figure out where we go from here. What I want to ask is how did you find out?"

I gave her a little devilish grin and went into the office and got the traffic citation. I handed it to her and sat back down.

When she looked at the citation she put her hand over her mouth and exclaimed, "Oh my God!"

"You can thank the fucking U.S. Postal Service and the Orange County Police Department for outing you. I guess you'll never pass one of those damned traffic light cameras again without thinking about this. Just hope your citation picture doesn't end up on the internet somewhere courtesy of some pervert government official."

"I'm so, so sorry Brian. I had no idea."

"Oh, and you ought to get your client to pay the $381 ticket. I'm sure as hell not going to pay it."

"I'll take care of it," she said softly.

We both went into our thoughts again. I couldn't tell what she was thinking but for me I was considering all of the possible futures from this point in time. Some were going to be very difficult for me and others impossible. The one thing I still hadn't decided on was whether to file for divorce or not. I had absolute proof of adultery even though adultery was no longer grounds for a favorable divorce settlement. Thanks to our loving government officials again, dissolving a marriage is like canceling a cable box. Fill out the form, return the equipment, and go on your merry way. Besides, I still loved her more than anything in the world.

"Brian, what are you thinking?"

"Frankly, I was just thinking what my life would be like after our divorce."

"God no, please don't say that even if you are thinking it. I don't want you to divorce me. I want to remain your wife and try to fix this mess. I'll do anything you want, absolutely anything, just tell me what you want and I'll do it. Just don't kick me out. Please."

"I said I was thinking what my life would be like without you, I didn't say I had started the process or even decided to. But it's on my list of possibilities though."

She pulled her knees up to her chest and started rocking back in forth in the chair mumbling, "Oh God no! Oh God no! Oh God no!"

I got up and got her a wet washcloth and another bottle of water. As I looked down at her I saw a beaten and broken woman. Beaten down by greed and the image of big piles of money, broken by her whorish actions and what they did to us. I didn't know how to make it all right.

"Reese, you've always been a bit of a flirt but this time you've gone too far. I wasn't there to protect you from the wolves and you didn't let me know what your boss offered. If you had I'd probably have broken several bones in his face. Now it's too late. The deed is done. You say you haven't fucked anybody yet and you've only given several men blowjobs but to me that still amounts to betrayal. Some believe that a blowjob is not sex and therefore doesn't constitute adultery but I'm not one of them. You betrayed our marriage, our love, and put something in your mouth that wasn't mine and you planned to do even more. I don't know if I can forgive that. I can't think right now, there's just too many confusing thoughts running around in my head. I need time to think.

"Reese, I think we need to be apart for a while and think about what's happened and where we should go from here. I'll pack a couple bags and move in with my parents for a few days..."

"NO! I was the one that screwed up so I should be the one that leaves. I'll get some things together and go to my sister's. You can call me there when you want to talk to me again. I'll be sitting by the phone waiting for your call."

With those final words she got up and went up to the bedroom while I cleaned up the kitchen. I heard sobbing coming from upstairs while she packed. Eventually she came back down with two suitcases and a couple over-the-shoulder canvas bags.

"Brian, I love you more than anything in the world and don't want to lose you. I know I screwed up and I'm truly sorry. I'll apologize every day from now on or do whatever you say to make it right between us. So with that said, I'll be waiting at my sister's to hear what you want to do. I already know what I want. Please don't wait too long to call, I don't think I could make it very long without you."

And with that she walked out the door.

As seen through Reese's eyes

Three weeks. Three damn weeks and not a word. I'm going crazy here.

I half expected Brian to call by now and tell me he was divorcing me but he hasn't. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, the long wait that is, but my hopes and prayers are telling me it's a good thing. Maybe he's just trying to come to terms with my stupidity and figuring out what our life will be like once we're back together. God, I hope so. But not knowing has me on edge so much that my sister can hardly be in the same room with me. If she has to do something near where I'm sitting then she makes quick work of it and disappears back into the kitchen. I think the tension is creating hard feelings between her and my brother-in-law too.

Three weeks of sheer agony and I don't know anything about anything.

Right after I moved in with sis I called Finley and told him where to stick his damn job. I warned him that if he didn't give me a fantastic recommendation that I'd let his little 'special incentive' scheme out of the bag. I was pretty mad when I said, "What would happen if it got out that you required your agents to consummate deals with a little bedroom play? I don't think you'd be in business very long. I do know the state board of ethics would take a dim view of your shit and every woman working there would be branded a whore, just like me, even if they never did anything wrong." So no, he had no choice but to buy my silence by agreeing to a glowing recommendation.

That also meant I was unemployed and sponging off of my sister and her husband. Frankly I don't know how much longer they're going to put up with me. I've got to start looking for another job, especially if I'm going to be living alone from now on.