Triangle

Many thanks to jellybelly2 for all the hard work in editing and improving this story from a previous version.

*****

"I just got my check Mel," said Angela. "That's $40,000 so far this year."

"Thanks for the call, Angela," said Mel. "Those are the first words you've said to me in two years. It's good to know you haven't changed."

"What do you think when you see that check come out of your bank account every month, Mel?" she said. "Do you think of me? And it's going up in a month with the cost of living adjustment. Does it bring back happy memories?"

"To be honest, Angela," he said; "it's an automatic payment, and Wendy does the household accounts. So I don't see it, and I don't care. I'm just glad I can help keep you off the street."

They both laughed, because they knew that her salary was as high as his, and that was pretty high. She didn't need the alimony, but she was like a wild woman through the divorce. Wendy also made a good salary, and Mel decided to fight with her instead of Angela.

Wendy thought he was stupid for giving in to Angela's outrageous claims rather than standing up to her in court, where the judge would probably split their assets. Instead, Mel ended up giving Angela the whole house, half the other assets, and outrageous alimony payments. He didn't care. All he wanted was to put the whole thing behind him, and if that's what it cost, he'd pay it.

"You must think of it sometimes," said Angela, "and it must really gall you. Even my lawyer couldn't believe it. She told me the settlement was so unfair that she was expecting to hear from your lawyer within a year to reopen the case and was surprised when she didn't.

"Anyway, the reason I called was to ask you this question: How would you like to stop paying my alimony?"

"What are you up to, Angela?" he said. "Have you become religious? Are you repenting your evil ways? I can't believe you're sincerely offering to do that?"

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea Mel," she said. "I'm just asking the question. You know me. I'm not going to give you anything, but maybe I would sell it to you for the right price."

"What are you talking about?" said Mel.

"Well, you know I hold a grudge for a long time Mel," she said. "When you betrayed me with my best friend, I wanted to hurt you so bad that you'd always remember what it cost you to humiliate me. I tried to do that with the divorce, but I now realize that taking your money didn't hurt you all that much. I wish you were a greedy miser, so it would eat you up - but unfortunately, you've never been obsessed with money."

"Thanks for the compliment," he said.

"It hasn't stopped bothering me that you never really paid for what you did to me," she said, "and almost every day I think about ways to hurt you and humiliate you. Some of my ideas are like horror movies; as the movie ends, you are pretty much unrecognizable.

"You have everything - a great life, lots of money and the love of my best and oldest friend that you stole from me - and you probably don't even think you did anything wrong. And I have nothing but frustration."

"You never gave me the chance to tell you Angela," he said. "Of course, I wasn't completely innocent in this whole thing. But you have to admit, our marriage was on the rocks. I loved you a long time through your mood swings, your insults in front of our friends, and your physical attacks on me. But after a while, you just wore me out.

"When Wendy and I realized we were in love, most of our conversations were about not hurting you. Despite her anger at what you did to me in the divorce, I think she still loves you more than me. She's an amazing woman."

Angela had listened to him quietly until he began talking about Wendy. Then he heard her gasping a couple of times, and she began screaming so loud that he had to take the phone away from his ear. "Shut up! Shut up! I don't want to hear that crap," she yelled. "She stabbed me through the heart. But we're not talking about her, just you. She'll make out like a champ if you do this, because she'll get the benefit of all that money that you won't have to give me anymore."

"Yes," he said, quietly; "the alimony. You're right. I'd rather spend it on Wendy. But you need to be quiet and listen to me for a minute, because we may never talk again. I never cheated on you. I wanted to. But your friend, Wendy, wouldn't let me. She said she wouldn't marry a cheater. You have no idea how much she tried to deny her feelings and push me away because of her loyalty to you. I wish I had a friend like that. I know that doesn't make any difference to you, but I'm glad I could finally tell you.

"Now please tell me what you're calling about. I'm enjoying this conversation as much as you are, but I have work to do."

As Angela began explaining, his secretary opened the door of his office and started to walk in. Then she looked at his face, and she stopped. He waved his hand at her to leave and come back later, and she never moved faster in responding to the familiar gesture. She sat down at her desk and shivered for a couple of minutes. When she told her friends at lunch later about his weird expression, they all wondered what his ex-wife had been saying to him.

"Not on your life," said Wendy when he told her later. "The alimony does bother me when I do the accounts, but I'd rather you pay it than get you involved with her crazy revenge schemes."

"I'm inclined to agree with you," he said, "but let me play the devil's advocate. She's right that she's the only one who suffered because of this whole thing. Why are you looking at me that way?

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know you've told me how awful you feel when you think of her. I know you've loved and confided in each other since you were children. So you've suffered a lot, too. But she's right that I haven't really had to pay any consequences except for the money. And on top of that, I get you - so I can see why she resents that.

"Maybe I should let her have her little revenge and get it out of her system. Sure. Her idea is bizarre, but she promised it would only be for an hour. And she said that she wouldn't maim me or break any bones. How bad could it be?"

"You have no idea Mel," said Wendy. "I haven't talked about Angela to you, but I get regular reports from mutual friends. Since the divorce, her obsession has been physical training. She's now like one of those women gladiators - well, maybe not that muscular, because she still looks hot.

"But she's strong, and she's been doing all sorts of martial arts training, plus wrestling, plus boxing. She's got to where she can destroy women much bigger than she is."

"But I'm a big guy," said Mel, "and she's just an average-sized woman. I've got a much longer reach, so it won't be easy for her to get to me. I'm sure she'll get in some shots, but if that will get her off our backsm, it might be worth a little pain. And what if this helped her move on and find someone else? You've told me that's what you want for her."

"Let me think about it," she said. "My intuition tells me that I should put my foot down and not let it happen. But I really wish Angela could start healing. I doubt this is the way, but I'll think about it. Just don't pressure me, even if she starts calling you a lot. I'll tell you when I'm good and ready."

"OK," he said.

Angela never called him again, but he found out later that was because she and Wendy were burning up the phone lines. Three weeks later, Wendy explained.

"I didn't want to tell you anything because you are such a cream puff," she said. "This time I was the lawyer, and I think I got you a deal. For your hour, Angela is going to give up the alimony. But she's also going to return all the alimony you've paid up to now. And she's going to give you half the value of the house, with a licensed appraiser selected by me determining what that is."

"Wow!" said Mel. "You're amazing."

"But this may still not happen," said Wendy, "because I've got some stuff here that looks like a deal-breaker. I made her give me a bunch of videos of her going against some opponents. She really fought me on that. When you see the videos, you'll understand why.

"She wanted to give me some old stuff, but I told her everything had to be from the last couple of months, and I would be able to tell by how she looked on the video if she was cheating. I told her flatly that unless she came through with them, I would see to it that you wouldn't fight her like she wants. She wants that so badly that she agreed, even though I could see she was worried, you'd back out once you saw the videos. We're going to watch them together now."

For a moment after the last video was over, both Wendy and Mel sat in stunned silence. Wendy was the one who spoke first.

"I was just thinking, this is nothing," she said. "She must have picked out the ones that were the least threatening. You can just imagine what's on the other ones.

"One of our mutual friends told me that Angela said to her that whenever she's in the ring, she imagines her opponent is you- and that motivates her to do those things that you saw.

"I feel sorry for all those girls who are smiling and shaking hands with her before the match. They think she's just another opponent. When she finishes with them, they are totally destroyed, physically and mentally. You can see they look pathetic as they crawl out of the ring. She is vicious and unrelenting.

"There's only one video with someone who's larger than her. I'm sure she kept back the others with much larger opponents, because some of my friends have seen them. They're all the same. Sometimes the larger person hurts her a little in the beginning, but it doesn't matter. She never stops attacking and punishing, and soon the big women are whimpering piles of pain like all the others.

"She told me that there would be no boxing gloves with you, and neither of you would be allowed to hit with your fists - but I don't think that will change much, because she can use everything else. If she can destroy those girls in a few minutes, imagine what she's going to do to you in an hour."

Mel finally spoke. "You're right, Wendy," he said. "Those videos are scary. Until I saw them, I was sort of neutral, but now I'm really frightened; I'll admit it. I would like to bow out, but something is holding me back. I feel like I want to do this to prove how much I love you. Is that stupid?"

"Are you kidding?" she said. "You're right. It proves your stupidity. You know I love you, and I don't want to see you hurt. I can't understand you. Sometimes you act just like all those macho guys who have to prove how much they can endure for what they believe in."

"That's a better way of putting it," he said. "Yes, you're exactly right. That's what this makes me feel like. When it's over, I know I'll have my stupid pride that I went through hell for the woman I love. Let me think about it a few days."

"You silly goof," she said. "I know what that means. But you're not going to agree until I have a few more chats with Angela."

Three days later when he told her he decided to do it, she said, "Well, I've tried to protect you as much as I could. I negotiated with her some more, and she's agreed that your genitals are off limits. She's not allowed to touch them, but she said that if you even slightly touched her vagina, that would void her agreement. You need to be very careful, because I have a feeling she'll try to trick you into touching it."

"Don't worry," he said.

"I tried to take your asses off the table too, but she wouldn't go for that. So here's what we agreed on. No punching, no breaking bones, dislocations or slamming heads. A couple of her opponents had concussions. No biting. Nothing in the eyes or ears. No twisting fingers or toes. She wanted no touching her breasts, but when I said that if she wanted that, she couldn't touch your ass, she backed off, so you can pull or twist or hit her breasts as long as you don't bite. Watch your ass, though. I can tell that's where she's focused.

"I had to agree that you'd both be naked, and her friends would get to videotape the whole thing. She's allowed to have unlimited cameras and lighting. The only people there will be you, me, her, and her three friends. The videos can only be watched by the people who are at the fight. If she shows them to anyone else, you can take her for a lot of money and property. All the papers will be signed before the fight, and you'll videotape your agreement that they will only go into effect once there is an hour of videotape of the two of you fighting. I will make copies of all the videos on my laptop before we leave. I think that's about it."

Mel was listening intently, but when Wendy finished, he didn't say anything. He sat staring into space. Wendy tried to catch his eye, but she couldn't. Finally, he got up and went to the living room and turned on the TV. He didn't say much to her that night or the next two days.

Wendy found out on a Monday a few weeks later that the fight was going to be that Saturday morning at Mel and Angela's old house. "My friends told me she's been training hard for the fight," she told him, "but she wouldn't let them watch what she's working on because she wants them to be surprised. Even though they're her friends and will be there taping, they all feel sorry for you and will probably be secretly rooting for you. They did find out that she's cleared everything out of the basement and laid down some heavy padding and a few chairs, plus lots of big lights. We're supposed to get there at 9 a.m. to sign papers, and the fight will begin around 11.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but I haven't seen you do any preparation. Do you want to talk about strategy or anything? I'm starting to feel terrible."

He felt her crying as she embraced him. "No, I think I've avoided thinking about the whole thing," he said. "It's so disgusting what she's doing, and I feel dirty already for going along with her. I really feel sorry for Angela more than anything. Her own friends aren't even on her side. What did I do that made her into what she's become?"

Wendy pushed away from him. "You know, you can still back out," she said. "I'll be relieved if you do, and who cares what she or anyone else thinks. But if you're going to do it, please at least think about how you're going to respond when she throws everything she has at you."

"OK," was all he said, but he didn't talk to Wendy about it again.

Saturday morning, the basement was like a hothouse with all the lights, and everyone there was soon sweating profusely. There was a big steel tub full of ice and water bottles, and they were being emptied quickly.

At a table in a corner, there were three chairs; Angela, Wendy, and Mel sat down. Angela was soft spoken and all business as she went through each agreement line by line before they all signed it. By the time they made the video where each one affirmed that the agreements would become valid the minute the fight was over, nearly two hot, sweaty hours had passed.

When they stood up, all of them were gleaming. They looked at each other silently for a minute. Mel and Wendy saw that Angela now looked excited. They were ill at ease.

"Let's get ready to rumble," said Angela, leading the way to the center of the room. "You are the referee Wendy, and you'll sit right there at the edge of the mats. I trust you to be fair and enforce the rules we agreed to. Remember, if Mel so much as brushes his fingers between my legs in the front, I can do anything I want to his penis and testicles. On the other hand, my ass is open territory- and so is his.

"I've got lots of cameras on stands, and my friends are going to circle around us and film close-ups, but they are not allowed to interfere in any way - no matter what happens. As soon as both of us have all of our clothes off and you ring the bell, you press this button Wendy, and the big digital clock on the wall starts counting down one hour. It will be easy for us to see how much time is left, but Wendy will also yell out the time left every five minutes. The clock will never stop, and neither will we - unless there's blood or someone is completely unconscious. Punchy or nauseous doesn't count.

"Do you have any questions before we start, Mel?"

"No," he said quietly.

Angela's clothes were off in a flash, and she stood with her hands on her hips watching as Mel slowly took off his sweats. "You stand over there," she said, "and I'll stand facing you over here, and when the bell rings, we'll go at each other like wrestlers. Unless you want to start a different way."

"No, that's fine," he said softly. Her voice was high and shrill and she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. She's so excited, he thought, and she looks great. She's in better shape than when we got married.

"Are you both ready?" Wendy called out.

"Yes!" yelled Angela.

"Yes," mumbled Mel.

The bell rang, and before it stopped vibrating, Angela was flying at him. He put up his arms but not fast enough- because she delivered a stinging slap to his face; before he could grab her and push her away, she did the same to one of his buttocks.

Almost as fast as he pushed her back, she was on top of him again. All she did was slap him. Often she missed, but she connected enough that his face and his butt were soon bright red and he looked shaky.

"Come on," she screamed at him. "Fight back!"

But all he did was try to protect himself and push her away. That seemed to make her angrier, and now she was really slapping him hard. So hard, that the noise of her flat hands hitting his red skin sounded like gunshots. He was grimacing from the pain and breathing hard.

"Fifty-five minutes," yelled Wendy. "What are you doing, Mel? Don't just stand there."

Angela stopped attacking and stood and faced him. "Yes, you bastard," she said. "Listen to your wife. She wants you to defend yourself. I know what you're doing, but it won't work. You're trying to show that you're better than me. But I don't care. I'm still going to destroy you.

"Wendy, you come here and defend him. I won't touch you. You can do whatever you want to me to slow me down while I work on him. Maybe you can help him a little."

"No!"

It was the first thing Mel had said since the bell rang, and it was a loud yell that startled Angela and everyone else.

"No, Wendy, don't you dare get up," he said, "or I'm leaving right now just like this. I swear I'll walk naked right out to the street and leave if you get near us. This is between Angela and me, not you."

Wendy stayed in her chair, and after a moment, Angela walked over to one of her friends and stood in front of her camera and spoke directly to it. "Mel's trying to show that he would never hurt me," she said, "but he already hurt me more than I can ever hurt him. He took my best friend away from me and destroyed our marriage. He looks so innocent, but he is an evil bastard who deserves much more than what I'm going to do to him now.

"Let him have his way and not fight back. It's not going to make any difference. But if you start feeling sorry for him, remember he already ripped my heart out of my body and trampled it under his feet."

She turned back to Mel and ran at him. He put his hands in front of him again, but she found her way around them and rained slaps on his face and his buttocks until she had no more strength. Before she stepped away he was staggering.

"Fifty minutes," yelled Wendy. "Please, Mel. I can't watch this."

"You haven't seen anything, Wendy," said Angela, who was trying to get her breath back from her exertions. "All right, Dee Dee, get the oil."

"What are you doing?" said Wendy. "This wasn't in the agreement. I'm going to stop this right now."

"No you're not," said Angela. "There's nothing in the agreement that says no oil. That's it, Dee Dee, just pour the entire bucket onto the mat. Sit down, Wendy." Wendy quietly went back to her seat and looked at the clock.