Unwitting Pawns

This is a story about a couple duped into doing something they otherwise would never have done. Unlike 'Instrument of Vengeance', this tale is 100% pure fiction.

At this time in their life together, Roy and Marla Andrews had been happily married for twelve years. They'd married young at eighteen and were both now thirty years old. The challenge of successfully raising two boys to the preteen ages of ten and eleven had occupied most of their energy and sacrifices were made along the way, namely their sex life. Oh, they were happily intimate, but opportunities were scarce in comparison to their first two years together. They had done very little experimenting and each considered their sex lives to be rather repetitive and lackluster, but they loved one another tethered by an unbreakable bond.

The Andrews family had just moved into a new neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia after their careers were paying off, affording them greater financial freedom for a larger, nicer home. More than a few of their new neighbors had briefly dropped by to introduce themselves and leave a pie or other dessert as a welcoming gift. They were unable to remember all of the names and faces but felt pleased that everyone they'd met so far had been super nice to them all. Their eleven-year-old son, Gordon was on the sixth-grade middle school cross country team and their ten-year-old son, Kevin was in the math club. They had already made quick friends with several others scattered around the neighborhood as children are wont to do.

One neighborly couple who stood out in particular to them was Carl and Tina Doggett. They appeared to be slightly older, in their mid-thirties and their two girls were like catnip to their boys who were only recently recognizing that there was another gender. After a couple of weeks had passed since the move in, allowing them to get halfway situated in their new abode, the Doggetts invited the Andrews family over one Friday evening for a summer barbecue. Tina wore an eye-catching bikini halter top with her red stretchy 3" inseam compression form-fitting shorts. Her clothing almost looked like it was painted on and Roy didn't mind looking. Marla slapped his arm several times to dissuade him from appearing to be a pervert.

While blonde-headed Tina was short and very thin, the dark brown-haired Marla was taller than her by three inches and much more voluptuous. She had womanly curves in all the right places and, although she was much more conservatively dressed than Tina, her summer dress and tennis shoes did nothing to distract Carl from drinking in her natural beauty. The handsomeness of the men was not lost on either of the wives, but they were much more discreet in making their assessments. The adults had steaks while the kids wanted burgers and hot dogs. As the kids busied themselves with learning badminton, the adults had very amicable conversations.

Carl asked, "So what kind of work do you do, Roy?"

"Oh, he works at TRIAD Consulting here in Richmond." Marla chimed in, hoping to paint her husband in the best possible light. "He teaches very exclusive software to people who need to learn it. He's already received two promotions, so he must be doing something right." She bragged.

Roy just smiled at his wife's boastful manner. She didn't have a clue what he actually did for a living but he wasn't about to embarrass or correct her in front of others.

"Oh, what kind of software?" Carl inquired, trying to act interested in his new neighbor's career.

"No one thing in particular, really" Roy informed. "I'm involved in teaching several programs associated with members of the military," he said innocuously.

"Ahhhh, those grunts sure have to take a lot of classes nowadays, don't they?" Carl smirked condescendingly.

"They sure do," Roy said with a smile.

"I'm involved with the military myself in a much bigger way, you might say." Carl boasted. "I own Doggett Construction Co. and Tina here is my office manager. We were recently awarded Government contracts to upgrade a large section of barracks and housing on the Marine Base at Quantico. I don't want to say any numbers out loud, but the project is so large that it has stretched us to our limit, financially, but once we've completed about half of the project, we'll finally have some breathing room. Their solvency requirements mandated that we furnish twenty percent of all of the materials for the project upfront before invoicing. Apparently, they were burned by a former contractor who bit off more than they could chew."

"That's very impressive, isn't it Roy?" Praised Marla. "A huge building contractor that is helping our military as well as themselves." Tina and Carl bathed in the limelight loving the kudos being paid them by Marla. Roy just smiled and nodded, saying nothing.

The affable couple ingratiated themselves to the Andrews as they compared hobbies and other interests and the four agreed to get together a lot more often.

Before the evening ended, Tina invited Marla to go shopping with her the next day. Her older sister was marrying her second husband soon and she wanted a new dress for the occasion. The men were drafted to watch the kids for the day and happily agreed as long as the ladies reciprocated Sunday, allowing the men to golf.

The two couples quickly became fast friends. Tina had an exceptionally open personality and was unreserved in speaking with Marla about any topic, especially sex. She indicated that she had never been more sexually satisfied in her life and that she and Carl had a recipe for adding spice in the bedroom which spilled over into strengthening their marriage. Marla was taken aback by her new friend's unabashed directness. But she was uncomfortable about asking her what they had done to spice things up the bedroom.

Sensing Marla's reticence, Tina confessed that she and Carl had opened up their marriage relationship to accept others. Not with any great frequency, but to the extent that it gave their marriage a new vitality it had lacked due to the tedium of everyday life. Marla was intrigued at the concept, not imagining that Roy would EVER go for such a thing, but Tina and Carl were the first and only couple she had ever personally encountered that admitted they participated in such a lifestyle and she wanted to learn more about it and perhaps vicariously experience it through Tina.

When Carl, the next day smoothly broached the subject with Roy on the golf course, he was met with a completely different mindset than what Tina told him that Marla had exhibited. There was no curiosity, no interest, no wondering about the particulars of the lifestyle whatsoever expressed by Roy. Roy's only comments were, "To each their own. That's great for you guys, but that would NEVER fly at my house." All further attempts to revisit and further their discussion on the topic were merely met with Roy's unresponsive stoic expression.

Carl was very frustrated because Tina said that she practically had Marla eating out of her hand when it came to wife swapping and Carl had a hard-on when it came to the curvy vixen and desperately wanted to get into her panties. But Marla emphatically stated unequivocally that she would NEVER engage in any kind of intimate activity with another man without Roy's clearly expressed permission and approval. Tina would gladly entertain Roy in a swap because he was truly a man's man type and she rousingly imagined the raw earthy sex he could bring to their coupling. But Roy was as obstinate as the day was long. He was obdurate and never allowed any comprehensive discussion to ever get off the ground.

For the next several months, the two couples invited each other over frequently and went out to eat and to movies, they had developed a very racy yet comfortable friendship. Both girls dressed provocatively when together and both guys thoroughly enjoyed the eye candy. Plus, they'd each help out the other any time a hand was needed. Roy was great with car repairs and saved his friends a lot of money with his assistance, and Carl helped his friend with heating, air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical repairs around the house. Tina had inspired Marla to the extent now that she was willing to work on persuading Roy to participate in wife swapping or at least be open to giving it at least one try, just to see. Marla decided to break the ice with Roy.

"So basically what you're saying, Marla, is that this is something you want to do?"

"Well, Roy, I was thinking that it might be a lot of fun for BOTH of us."

"I didn't ask about fun. I asked if this is something you really want to do!"

"I wasn't looking for this, Roy. When Tina and Carl first brought it up with us, I was against it. But now, after giving it a lot of thought, it's flattering that they'd want to do this with us as a couple. Why not give it a try?"

"Give what a try? What specifically are you saying you want to do Marla?"

"Well, we could do the usual things, I imagine, Roy. Perhaps visit a nice restaurant, or take in a racy movie together, maybe go out on the dance floor a bit with them."

"Yeah, we do that already. But it's what you're inferring afterward that bothers me, Marla. You're talking about having sex with Carl, and Tina having sex with me. That's it, right?"

"Stop and think for just a moment, honey. You know that you're the ONLY man I've ever been with. You, on the other hand, had liaisons with other women before you ever met me. I bet back when you were playing power rangers, you had a woman in every port. Can't you see how I might wonder what it's like to have experiences similar to yours?" Then Marla smiled at the enticing thought, "You can't say that you haven't thought about what it might be like to be intimate with Tina, can you? You've seen the way she looks at you."

"She might look at me, but Carl LEERS at you and that's what bothers me. What you and I did or didn't do before we ever met doesn't matter. It's what we do AFTER we met that should concern us. Don't you understand that? Besides, I didn't play power ranger, as you call it. Yes, I was an Army Ranger, but if you understood what I did in the Army, you would know that I was NOT a ladies' man."

"What I do understand is your 'Me Tarzan, you Jane' attitude is getting in the way of something that has the potential to spice up our sex life. Can't you think about that a bit, Roy?"

Normally Roy would blow his stack and get into a shouting match over her unwelcome new openness to this perilous journey, but he didn't want this to devolve into name-calling and causing a further rift. He was hoping to get her to see reason. "Am I that terrible of a bed partner, Marla? Do I no longer make you happy?"

"You fool. Nothing could be further from the truth. My love for you has never grown stale. On the contrary, it only grows stronger because we both put each other first. We've always done that."

"Then how can you even talk about including others in our marriage bed?"

"You know how close Tina and I have grown. Heck, you and Carl are like brothers too. There's nothing they wouldn't do for us or us for them. Haven't you seen how lovey-dovey they are together all the time? Their emotional and physical attachments for each other have only served to allow them to continually do things to improve their marriage. That's what Tina keeps telling me. It's not that what we have is bad in any way, Roy. Think of it more like, 'the new and improved' version of us this could bring. What could be the harm in trying it, Roy?"

"What could be the harm? How about the end of us, Marla? Is that something that you might consider harmful? Or is that your ultimate goal? To replace me in your bed with Carl, is that it? I don't see why you think we need this."

"Honey I already told them that you wouldn't go along with it. I'm content with you in every way, Roy. I was only wondering and thinking about 'what ifs'. It was just something fun to think about us doing with them."

"You've got me very concerned now, Marla. I've always trusted you one hundred percent. We've always been a team, having each other's backs. Do I need to start worrying that you might do something behind my back because I am apparently a stick in the mud to you?"

"Roy Clifford Andrews, you listen to me and you listen to me good! I could NEVER cheat on you. EVER! Just get that thought out of your head right here and now. You don't know how much it bothers me for you to even suggest I would do something like that behind your back. It will never happen! But I will admit that I was flattered that they would pick us as a couple to consider for something like this. They believe their marriage would benefit from being with us as much as ours might benefit from being with them. It works both ways, you know."

"Well, as long as I have a say, I am dead set against it. There's too much that could go wrong. I love you so much Marla and I don't want anything to ever come between us. I just hope you don't become dissatisfied with our marriage because I don't want to share you."

"I figured you'd feel this way, Roy. I told them you'd say no."

"Well then, why even bring it up?" Roy fumed.

"On occasion, you can surprise me, Roy. I was just hoping that this would be one of those times. I brought it up because I want everything to be open and above board. I thought that perhaps if I shared my honest feelings, you just might grant my wish. That's why."

"So basically, even knowing I'm dead set against it, you're saying you still want to do this?"

"Do you remember back about six weeks ago, after a lot of prodding, I finally got you to try sushi? You fought me tooth and nail over it but finally relented and gave it a try? And when you did, you discovered that you loved it and couldn't get enough of it? Remember how you said the flavors just exploded in your mouth? Well, guess who gave me the idea baby? Tina and I were out shopping and she had me try it. That's an example of something they brought to our lives that has already enriched it. How can you arbitrarily discount any idea without at least trying it one time to discover for yourself, as you did with the sushi?"

"So basically you're saying, 'try it, you might like it'? Is that it? Do your marriage vows mean so little to you that you would abandon them so readily?"

"I swear to you darling that I would never act on anything without your permission or do anything that would hurt you."

"Well, I'm telling you right now that just the thought of you having sex with another man hurts me, Marla."

"That's why Tina would be there for you baby. She's really into you and wants to see the kind of manly energy you could bring to her and she'd share her womanly ways with you at the same time. As I said, this would never be one-sided. Plus, haven't you ever thought about me being with another man in any of your fantasies?"

"Why on earth would you ever think that I would fantasize about you being with another man?"

"Carl and Tina tell me that it is a very common fantasy. Lots of men get off on the idea."

"Carl and Tina, Carl and Tina. Everything lately is all about Carl and Tina. So now you take their word over mine about what I do and do not like? Somehow they know what's best for me? Maybe we need to cut them out of our lives then if they have enraptured you to that extent. Then again, maybe it's too late already. Have I lost you to them, Marla? Do you want a divorce so you can be with other men whenever you like?"

"Perish the thought, Roy. Let's just forget the whole thing, okay? I had hoped you would be open-minded about this. But I can see that it's a real deal-breaker for you and I don't EVER want to hear you mention the D-word again. Do you hear me? What we have is forever, no matter what. I'm sorry I brought it up. And don't you EVER think I would do anything behind your back. I would never allow anything to happen with them or anyone else without your approval and encouragement. So just put your mind at ease, big boy."

"Thank you for that sweetheart. It was killing me the way you were pressing so hard. I trust you. You have never given me a reason not to. If you say you won't do anything without my permission, then I believe you." Roy sighed. "Now let's see if I can bore you to death with some of my plain old loving." He chuckled.

A few days later, Marla went over to visit Tina and Carl to let them know about her conversation with Roy.

"He's dead set against it. I tried my best to get him to see what good could come of it, but he's old-fashioned and won't budge an inch." Marla told them.

"That's a shame," Tina said. "I honestly believe he'd think differently if he'd just let me ring his bell one time."

"Well what about you, Marla? You seem to be open to having the experience. Perhaps if you tried it a few times without him, then you'd be better able to explain the value it can bring to your marriage."

"Behind Roy's back? NEVER! He's my sun, moon, and stars. I would never do anything like that behind his back, even if I thought it was for his own good. I gave him my word and I always keep my word to my husband. Always!"

Carl apologized, "I understand, Marla. I'm sorry. I was just thinking out loud is all. It's disappointing that the four of us are so close otherwise, that he refuses to take the next step to make things even better."

"I know what you mean, Carl. You and Tina are our very best friends. Roy would give you guys the shirt off his back. He just won't give on this one issue. Oh well. It was a wonderful thought." Marla sighed in frustration.

Although Carl and Tina belonged to a local swinger's group with access to multiple partners, he desperately wanted to bed Marla now more than ever. He gave a lot of thought to finding a way to make it happen without inducing Roy to threaten divorce. He didn't want to break up anyone's marriage. On the contrary, he wanted to spice it up for them. Then an adage came to Carl's mind which stimulated him to conceive a plan. 'It's easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission.'

Carl devised an elaborate plan he felt would give him, not only the best chance of success with Marla but also might entice Roy into bed with Tina, thereby achieving his overarching goal of adding them to their swinging group. The couple would make a nice addition, bringing fresh faces and bodies into the mix. Carl explained what he wanted his wife, Tina to do. She was excited to give Carl's plan a try, especially considering the prospect of having sex with Roy.

When Tina and Marla were out shopping on a Saturday, Tina had a favor to ask of her friend.

"How's it going with getting Roy on board to try the swaps we've talked about so much?"

"I wish I had something better to report, but it looks like we're deadlocked on the topic. He knows I'd like to give it a whirl, but I've given him my word not to do it behind his back and cheat and I keep my word to him. He still refuses to even consider it, so it doesn't look like it will be happening for us." Marla sadly stated.

Tina enthused, "Well Carl has an idea he wants to try that just may get Roy to reconsider his decision. What Carl has in mind may take a few weeks to arrange and accomplish, so I wouldn't expect any overnight changes. But we'll need your cooperation to pull it off. If the three of us do our part, then there's a chance it could still happen, so don't give up hope."

"It's hard to get my hopes up after everything Roy said. If I bring up the topic again to him, it may make him very angry with me and I don't want that to happen."

"No no, nothing like that. As a matter of fact, it would be best if you never say anything more to him about it. Let's let Carl take care of convincing Roy to come around."

"Then what it is that you need me to do?" Marla asked puzzlingly.