Tina was Starstruck

For a moment he had no words, then she said, "Rob, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I couldn't help myself, I got carried away, it will never happen again, I promise."

Rob got his voice back. "I couldn't give a flying fuck if you do it every day of the week," he said. "You mean nothing to me anymore, you're his whore as your label says. We're finished, you disgust me, you can get your things together and get out, what you can't carry you can arrange to collect later when I'm not here. Go back to him if he'll have you, I certainly don't want you."

"No, no," she wailed. "It was a stupid mistake, but it was just one night, and it didn't mean anything. I love you and I don't want to lose you."

"Well, you already have," he said, "It's too late to be sorry."

"But we can put it behind us. We can talk it through and forget it in time. I'll make it up to you, honestly I will." She pleaded.

"Can you unfuck yourself," he asked, "No, of course you can't. It's not as easy as washing his stink off and putting clean knickers on. I could never forgive or forget what you did last night, or that you refused the chance to leave with the police officers and come home. You decided to go back to bed with him instead. Well, I hope a romp with his black cock was worth it, you've destroyed everything we had. Now, get your things and get out."

"But I've got nowhere to go," she cried, "I can't go back there, he told me that he just wanted me for the night."

"I don't care where you go, perhaps your mother will take you in, but I wouldn't be too sure about that when she finds out what a slut you've become. I'm going for a run to shake off the alcohol, and when I come back, I expect you to be gone. The next time I want to see you, is in court, when my divorce is being granted."

By the time Rob got back from his run he was feeling better physically, having run the remains of the previous night's alcohol out of his system. However, apart from feeling very tired he was also dejected, his life had turned from settled and happy to uncertain and sad in just a few hours. Every time he thought about what Tina had done last night, he felt physically sick and life without her looked bleak.

The house was empty when he'd returned. Going to the bedroom he found drawers open and emptied. There were still some of her things hanging in her wardrobe, but most had gone, it was a similar situation with her shoes. Her jewellery had gone, as had her passport and other important documentation. There were no suitcases in the closet, she must have needed them all to carry what she'd taken. Rob wondered if she'd called her father to collect her or taken a taxi, as she didn't drive.

Whilst he was showering, he started to consider his next moves. He would see a divorce lawyer as soon as he could make an appointment, and his next moves after that would be dependent on the advice he received. He needed to sort his finances out tomorrow, he'd cancel Tina's credit card, which was on his own account, he would withdraw half the funds from their joint current account and open a new account in his own name, he would also withdraw half the funds in their joint savings account and open a new account in his own name only.

He knew that Tina would have no claim on his house as he was the sole owner. The property had been his parents' family home and had been given to him when they'd emigrated to France to enjoy their well-earned retirement. Thinking about his parents he wondered how he was going to tell them about what had happened. They loved Tina, and although they always thought she was a little young for him, they'd supported them both without question. They would be almost as devastated as he was at what had happened.

He wondered what she would tell her own parents. He thought his father-in-law, John, would just shrug and say, 'That's life', before reaching for another drink, he was well on the way to becoming an alcoholic.

His mother-in-law, Laura, would be very upset, he felt sure about that. He got on very well with the long-suffering Laura. Despite all the worries her husband gave her, she remained the cool, beautiful, older version of her daughter. So alike she could squeeze into her daughter's clothes without much difficulty, and until you were close enough to see the tiny crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, she could be mistaken for her. Laura would be devastated if she heard the true story.

Rob busied himself removing reminders of Tina's presence throughout the house, then he confined them all to boxes at the back of the garage. He prepared the larger of the spare bedrooms for himself to use, he couldn't bring himself to use the master bedroom again until he had changed the décor, which had been Tina's choice, and changed their bed for the one currently in the spare room.

He phoned his brother and told him what had happened, Paul was sympathetic of course, and felt a little guilty about being the reason that Rob and Tina hadn't gone to the party together. Rob said that Paul shouldn't feel at all to blame, the fault lay entirely with Tina and the arsehole who had seduced her.

He prepared some food that he didn't really want, but he needed to get into a proper routine to see him through the coming weeks. At the end of the day, he went to bed and slept much more soundly than he expected.

During the following day he contacted a solicitor who would handle his divorce petition, and he made an appointment to see him later in the week. Then he got stuck into his work. He told his boss about the weekend's events and got him to assign someone else to look after the rapper's investment portfolio. He also arranged for a locksmith to change all the external locks on his house, he didn't really think Tina would do anything stupid, but after the weekend's events, how could he be sure.

That Monday evening Tina's mother phoned Rob. "Tina has given me a brief summary of Saturday night's events, Rob. She told me it was just a silly mistake on her part, a 'spur of the moment' decision, it didn't mean anything, and she thinks you are overreacting. Rob, I want to ask you if there is anything I can say, or do, to get you to forgive my daughter, so you could continue with your life together, and raise the family that you planned."

Rob replied, "Laura, if there had ever been a chance it was shattered when Tina refused to leave that man's house with the police officers and go home with me. When she refused to come out to talk with me, saying she'd talk to me in the morning, before she returned to her lover's bed."

With a catch in her voice, Laura said, "I agree, that was unforgivable, Tina didn't tell me about that. I'm so sorry that you have been so badly treated, Rob. I understand your pain and anger but is there really nothing you can do to even the score with her, to get revenge and perhaps then be able to put it behind you after a while."

"I don't know what you mean," said Rob. "Get revenge how?"

"I think it's called a 'revenge fuck'," said Laura.

"Well, even if I wanted to, that bastard hasn't got anyone that I could fuck that he cares about, and even if he had, I doubt he could give a damn."

"I wasn't talking about revenge on OxyGene," said Laura, "I was talking about getting revenge on Tina. Rob, I was offering myself."

"Christ, Laura. No, I couldn't. I've far too much respect for you, I love you as much as I love my own mother. I could never drag you into this sordid affair."

"Thank you for that, Rob. That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me for a long time. I knew it was a long shot, but I would have done it for you. Goodnight, Rob, please, don't become a stranger."

"Goodnight, Laura," said Rob, and as he put his phone down, he was embarrassed to find that he had an erection.

After he'd retired to bed, he lay there awake, unable to get a vision of Laura, out of his mind. He was hard again and ended up masturbating. Afterwards he was ashamed that he'd used the vision of Laura to aid his self-satisfaction.

The next four weeks crept by and there was little light in Rob's life, he was miserable, and his work was suffering from his depression, so much so that his boss told him to take two weeks off work and try to get himself in a better frame of mind.

On the second Monday of his enforced leave Laura phoned him with more devastating news. "Rob," she said, "Tina is pregnant! She's taken two pregnancy tests, and both were positive. She says she's sure the baby is yours. Rob, does this news make a difference to you continuing with the divorce."

Rob was gutted, if the child was his he couldn't just leave it in Tina's hands, but if it was the result of her night with the rapper, he wanted nothing to do with it. It would be obvious when it was born, if it was his, or if it was the rapper's mixed race child.

After getting over the initial shock, Rob said, "Laura, the only thing I will do is ask my lawyer to slow down the divorce process, so it doesn't go to court until after the baby is born. If the child turns out to be mine, I might re-consider going through with the divorce, or it's more likely that I'll demand sole custody of the child on the grounds that my wife is morally unfit to raise him or her. If the child is bi-racial, it will be Tina and the rapper's problem."

"It's not quite that simple," said Laura, "I didn't want to have to tell you this, but OxyGene wasn't the only black man to have sex with Tina that night. She told me that late that night, when the rapper had spent himself in her a few times, he invited two of the men from his band to have her. All three of them came in her, so if the child isn't yours, it could belong to any one of the three."

"Christ, no wonder one of them wrote 'whore' on her breasts," exclaimed Rob.

"I didn't say she invited the other men to fuck her," said Laura sharply, "She says she didn't want them to, but was too frightened to refuse."

"Ok, perhaps I shouldn't have said that." a chastened Rob said," Look, I sympathise with her being subjected to that sort of treatment, but the fact still remains that she willingly allowed OxyGene to fuck her, even after she had the opportunity to leave with the police officers. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been in that position later on. It doesn't matter to me whether she had one or three of them, the result is the same. She's only got herself to blame, and the fact remains that she cheated on me. No, her being pregnant makes no difference to me divorcing her."

"Ok, Rob," said Laura, "I'll let you know how she gets on though, goodbye." And she rang off.

"Fuck," said Rob out loud to himself, "Can this get any fucking worse."

Two weeks after Laura's revelations about Tina's pregnancy, Rob was sitting watching TV and sipping a small whisky when the front doorbell rang. He looked at his watch, 9 p.m. Who could be calling at this time of night? He opened the door and Laura stood there holding a suitcase, she was soaking wet, he hadn't realised it was raining heavily.

"Laura," he said, "Come in out of the rain. What are you doing here at this time of night?"

Laura stepped inside. "I've left him, Rob. I won't spend another night in that house. Please, will you let me stay for the night?"

"Get you wet coat and shoes off and come into the lounge," he said, "Of course, you can stay for the night. Sit down, I'll get you a drink and you can tell me what's happened."

He poured her a measure of whisky and added a little water before giving it to her. As she took it, he noticed her hand was cold and shaking.

"Now tell me what's going on," he said.

"I've left him, Rob. I've left them both, they are disgusting. John and I haven't slept together for a long time, since he started drinking heavily. I sleep in one of the spare rooms, next to the one Tina has. Some of my clothes are still in his room and I went in there to get something early this morning and there they were in bed together; he and Tina have been fucking and sleeping together. When I challenged them, Tina laughed, and he just rolled over. Christ, Rob it turns out they've been fucking for weeks."

Rob was visibly shaken. "But she's pregnant. He's her father, it's incest!"

"Yes, I know." Said Laura. "Being pregnant doesn't stop you fucking, in fact pregnant women often find they have an increased sex drive. But that doesn't excuse her letting her father fuck her, and from what they said today, encouraging him. And he's not at all apologetic about committing incest with his daughter. He said it's mainly my fault because I don't sleep with him anymore. He needs to get his cock in somewhere, and Tina's a better fuck than I ever was." At this point she burst into tears.

Rob took the glass out of Laura's shaking hand and put it down. He sat on the couch beside her, put his arms round her and held her tightly as she sobbed uncontrollably. He held her for what seemed like ages, with her head buried in his chest. When she'd calmed down a little, he relaxed his grip. As she looked up, he kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Right," he said. He felt calm and in control for the first time in weeks. "There's no way you can go back to that house, you can stay here as long as you need to, or want to. You can have the old master bedroom, that will give you plenty of room for your things. What you haven't brought with you we'll collect tomorrow. I'll go with you to make sure you don't have any trouble. Now, have you eaten anything."

"No, I haven't eaten anything all day, I couldn't she said."

"Right," said Rob standing up, "I haven't got a lot of choice at the moment I'm afraid, but I can whip you up a decent cheese omelette with some chips, frozen I'm afraid. Then there are some fruit yoghurts or fresh grapes for dessert, it's not much I'm afraid, I wasn't expecting a guest, but I'm glad you're here. While I'm getting you a meal why don't you take your things upstairs and wash your face. There's decent soap in the ensuite, and fresh, warm, towels in the airing cupboard. That dress is a little damp so why don't you change it and by the time you come down I'll have your food ready."

"Thank you, Rob," she said getting up, "you're a lovely, lovely man. I hope one day my slut of a daughter realises what she's lost." She hugged him and kissed him hard, full on the mouth, then broke away and hurried upstairs with her case.

Rob was happy for the first time in weeks. Laura was a lovely person, and it would be nice having her around the house. He found that he wasn't at all surprised at the kind of slut his wife had turned into, and he didn't care. He hummed a tune to himself as he started to prepare Laura's meal. He hoped that she would stay for a long time.

Laura settled in quickly in Rob's home. She worked as an administrative assistant at an estate agent's offices in town, so she sometimes rode to work in Rob's car if he was working at the local branch of the bank. If Rob was working from a different branch she would go in by bus. Either way they were usually both home from work at or about the same time, and they shared housekeeping tasks and preparation of meals together. They were soon very comfortable with each other's presence in the house.

Within a month it felt like the arrangements had always been thus. Sometimes Rob would watch Laura as she carried out some task, or as she sat opposite him at the dining table, and it seemed that it was almost Tina sitting there, she had looked so much like her mother.

As if by agreement, they rarely talked about Tina or the events that had led to her and Rob breaking up. Rob's lawyer had agreed to make sure the divorce case didn't come to court before Tina's baby was born and he prepared papers for two different scenarios in the event that the baby was, or was not, Rob's. As far as Rob and Laura were aware, Tina and John were still carrying on an incestuous relationship, which meant for certain that there would be no reconciliation between any of them.

Then one night at dinner Rob brought up the subject of Laura divorcing her husband, John. Laura surprised him by saying, "I don't have to do anything about that, you see, we were never married."

"But you've been together for many years, and you had Tina. Why weren't you married?" Asked Rob.

"Well," Laura began, "John was married when we first met, I was 18 at the time and he told me he was separated from his wife and would soon be getting a divorce. He seduced me and got me pregnant with Tina, and I moved into his house. I was a mother by the time I was 19 and he was a good father at first."

"Every time I asked him when he would be getting his divorce and marrying me, he gave me a different reason why it couldn't be done yet. His wife couldn't be contacted, or he couldn't afford the lawyer's fees, etc. There was a different reason every time. In the end I just gave up worrying about it."

"By then times had changed, and couples were setting up home together and having families without getting married, the stigma had gone. We were no different, so I let it go. Now, the unexpected upside is that I've just been able to walk away from him and end the relationship. I'm now a 43-year-old single woman. Does that make you feel any differently about me? Do you think I was irresponsible or weak?"

"No, I don't," said Rob, "but I'm surprised you stayed with him after Tina came of age and he started drinking, and even after Tina and I were married."

"I suppose by then I had just got into the rut." she said. "John, wasn't always bad, and although he'd always drunk too much, his drinking hadn't become a huge problem until the last couple of years."

"Well, you don't have to rely on him for anything now." Said Rob, "I know the house is his, he owned it before he met you, and whilst you appear to have no claim on any of his assets, you're not responsible for any of his liabilities either."

"You don't have to worry about having a roof over your head, because I meant what I said about you staying here as long as you want to. I'm not going anywhere, so you can make this your home if you want to, and before you wonder, no, there are no conditions attached."

Laura looked deep into Rob's eyes for long moments, before she said. "Rob, you're the most wonderful man. Why couldn't I have met you instead of John."

He laughed as he replied, "Because, when you were 18, I was only 10 years old. I was still into toys, and you wouldn't want to be playing with kids."

"It's funny," she said, "There's an 8 year difference between our ages, which is less than the 11 year difference between you and Tina. If I hadn't been with John or had Tina, and we'd met, it might have been me that you swept of my feet. What a pity it wasn't."

For a moment John didn't know what to say, he wished it had been that way round, but you can't have everything you wish for. "Well, you can't change the past so there's no point in reflecting on it, I suppose. It's an interesting thought though. Now, if you've finished, I'll get these dishes into the dishwasher."

Ten minutes later Laura was ready to go to bed, "Goodnight, Rob," she said, "Thank you for another lovely day, and I may well take you up on your offer to stay here for a long time, even indefinitely if you'll have me." She kissed him softly on the lips before turning and going upstairs.

Rob stood where he was, his mind in a whirl. He really wanted her to stay, she made things feel right, and although he kept trying to deny it to himself, he knew that he was in danger of falling in love with her. Then he reasoned with himself, why shouldn't he. She was lovely, she was kind, she was fun, and it felt good being with her. But he also felt that the business with Tina was too raw for him to contemplate another relationship yet. Wasn't it?

He went to bed, he needed to sleep but he couldn't get Laura out of his mind. He'd tossed and turned for an hour when he heard the click of his bedroom door catch, and a shaft of light came into the room from the landing outside. As he looked across at the door he saw Laura on the threshold, the light was shining through her transparent nightdress, showing her lovely hourglass figure. Her hair was down around her shoulders, and it swayed softly from side to side as she walked slowly over to his bedside.