Who Has It Worst?

"Hey, pull it together big boy," Will joked. "If you fall down sobbing we won't be able to lift you back up to your feet."

"That had to be the most disgusting event in history," Jack groaned, "but even more successful than we could have hoped for."

The quartet didn't discuss the details of their successful endeavors helping Stan as much as they had the other two - mostly because of the repulsive details. Tom again initiated discussion of the next step.

"OK; now we have to help Jack," he demanded. "Now my plan..."

Jack interrupted him. "I have to stop you Tom and tell you what the present status is."

"OK, shoot," Tom replied.

"As you know it's been more than a month since we first met, and I wasn't a good enough actor to suppress my feelings. Audrey started getting real nervous around me especially since I was calling her and asking her where she was whenever I suspected that she might be trolling - or thinking of trolling. When I rejected sex with her for about the fifth time, with tears in her eyes she asked 'What's wrong, Jack?'"

"I sarcastically responded, 'I don't know Audrey - you're supposed to be smart - you figure it out;" then I got up and went into the guest room. The next day she told me that she was going to see a shrink to work on her 'problem,' and begged me not to divorce her. When I told her 'You sure do need help you crazy fucking bitch,' she burst out crying."

The other three sat spellbound.

"I got a call later on that day that she had been admitted to a mental hospital. She's still there, and needs therapy. If her problem turns out to be some sort of mental illness I have to stick with her - I swore 'for better or for worse' when we got married, and our daughter needs her. Our daughter has been a basket case ever since Audrey has been in the hospital the last week," Jack solemnly continued.

After a long grave pause Tom stood up, walked over to Jack and gave him a hug. "So what do you want us to do Jack?" Tom asked.

"Nothing, right now. Just your moral support until I meet with the doctors next week," Jack replied, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"What's your insurance like?" Will asked.

"I don't know how much it will cover, but we do miss her income since she is on unpaid leave right now," Jack mumbled.

Will buzzed for his administrative assistant and told her to have the director of Bronson Commercial Realty write Jack a check for $50,000.

"I can't accept that," Jack complained.

"You need to accept it," Stan said putting a big paw over Jack's hand. "If any of us could have legitimately salvaged our marriage we would have. You're the only one who has a chance; I'm not a rich man, but I'd be very happy to kick in $5,000 myself."

"Me too," Tom chimed in.

"You've got to take it," Will said; "please."

***************

In the end, things did work out for the four amigos, although not exactly as how they could have predicted.

Jack did stay married to Audrey. Her brain chemistry had been completely messed up by an interaction between changes to her body after her pregnancy and a drug that she had been wrongly prescribed by a doctor that has since lost his license because of his incompetence and his outstanding multi-million dollar malpractice judgments. While her condition was tough to diagnosis, once it was the treatment was fairly straightforward. Within three months she was back to her pre-pregnancy faithful self. They now also have a five year old boy, and they are very happy.

Tom got sole custody of his daughters. Amy didn't handle her situation well. She never moved in with her former lover, Jeremy, and she was so pre-occupied with her situation including her HIV diagnosis, which she only found out was erroneous six months later, that she lost her job. She moved fifteen hundred miles away. She has only seen her daughters three times in the last three years, but does call about once a month. Tom tries to be polite when she does but if she ever starts whining about how sorry she is he cuts her off.

After his divorce became final, Tom returned to The Gold Coast bar to thank Amber. Fortunately she still worked there. She and Tom really hit it off and now live together. She runs her own Internet business, set up by Stan (before he left town), and no longer works as a cocktail waitress. Neither one of them seems interested in getting married, but they are happy together, especially since Amber is the perfect compassionate surrogate mother and has filled the void left by Amy's absence. Both girls, even as teenagers, are well adjusted.

After his divorce Will moved onto another young wife; this one isn't nearly as sexy as Julie. In fact, she's basically ordinary - but since she's devoted to Will he's happy. The bullet wound in his fat roll was the impetus for him to get on a regular exercise routine and improve his diet. He's lost thirty pounds and will now likely live longer and better. There were no adverse effects on his family since all fallout from the Julie situation was handled privately.

Stan couldn't stop thinking about how awesome fucking Julie had been, or about how plasma hot she is. He started visiting her in jail. Surprisingly their personalities really clicked. When Stan tried to talk Will into dropping the charges against her and to get the DA not to prosecute Will told Stan that he was crazy. "I can tame that evil bitch," was Stan's reply, "I have more chemistry with her than any other woman I've ever met in my life."

Working as an intermediary between Will, Julie and the DA - without ever disclosing his relationship with Will - Stan was able to broker a deal whereby Julie plead guilty to several misdemeanors and was sentenced to time served and placed on probation for ten years with some interesting conditions. The conditions included that she accepted only half of what she was entitled to under her pre-nup with Will in the divorce settlement, and that she agreed that if she ever publically said anything derogatory about Will or his family, or if she got married and cheated on her new husband, her probation would immediately be revoked and she would serve all ten years.

Considering what he saved on the deal with Julie's prenup, Stan's financial help for all of the quartet's activities ended up costing him only a few thousand dollars.

Stan and Julie married two months after their divorces were final, and with the blessing of her probation officer as long as she reported in by videoconferencing, moved two thousand miles away to start a new life together. To say that they are sexually compatible would be the understatement of the century. They have likely fucked more frequently, and more passionately, in the last seven years than any other couple in their new state. Anytime that they argue it turns into a fuck session - anytime that they have something to celebrate it turns into a fuck session - anytime that they are bored it turns into a fuck session - essentially everything turns into a fuck session.

All four guys cherish the serendipity that brought them together in The Gold Coast bar - it changed their lives; for the better!