"You Should Probably Take That"

Kendall was glaring at Dan with hate-filled eyes; her chest heaving as she took deep breaths. She was trying to calculate the best way to go after Dan. Left? Right? Over the top of the loveseat? The doorbell rang before she could figure out a plan of attack.

"You should probably get that," Dan said, his voice flat and unemotional.

Kendall's nose flared and her eyes squinted as she looked Dan in the eye. She paused a moment and then spun on her heel and marched to the front door.

Kendall flung open the door only to be confronted by the sight of two police officers. Her expression was a mix of confusion and anger as she spoke with the officers, looking back at Dan every few sentences. The officers and Kendall were too far away for Dan to understand their mumbled conversation. He could see Kendall gesticulating wildly and pointing her finger towards him. Dan could see Kendall stand aside and allow the officers entry to their home. She escorted one of the officers away from the living room and towards the kitchen. The other officer approached Dan.

"Mr. Kenner; I'm Patrolman Diaz and my partner is Patrolman Agnew. Your wife said that you have been violent towards her tonight. Why don't you tell me what's going on? Did you touch her?"

Dan shook his head no. "I confronted my wife about an affair she's having. She attacked me." Dan pointed to his face. He could feel the blood on his face from taking the hit from the thrown cell phone. He could also feel his split lip. "I'm the one who called 911. She's been getting violent lately. She slapped me a month ago and then a week later, threw a coffee cup at my head. It missed me, but if it hadn't, I would have had to go to the emergency room.

"I recorded the confrontation tonight. Would you like to see the video?"

Patrolman Diaz most certainly did want to watch the video.

Dan made several tapping moves on his iPhone and then handed his phone to the police officer. Patrolman Diaz watched the video in silence, raising his eyebrows at the scene of Kendall launching herself at Dan.

The police officer looked at Dan skeptically. "It looks like there was a conversation before the recording. Was anything said that would escalate the situation?"

Dan shrugged. "She found out that I had a private investigator following her for a month and that I had passed on the findings to her affair partner's wife. She wasn't happy about that."

The police officer chuckled. "You don't do things halfway do you?"

"As the guy said, 'I light my path forward by the light of the fires of the bridges burning behind me'."

"Okay, Dylan McKay." The officer shook his head and smiled. His partner exited the house and they conferred with each other. The other officer shook his head and nodded his head toward Dan. Patrolman Diaz played the video on Dan's phone for his partner. His partner rolled his eyes and shook his head. Kendall's explanation had been much different, but she was not aware that she had been recorded.

Patrolman Diaz walked back to Dan. "We're arresting your wife for domestic violence and making terroristic threats. My suggestion to you is to take out a restraining order."

Patrolman Diaz opened the front door as his partner escorted Kendall from the kitchen, her hands cuffed behind her. She was crying and starting to hyperventilate.

"Dan! Don't let them do this to me! Please, if you ever loved me, make them let me go. I promise I'll be good!"

Dan rolled his eyes and turned to the officer who handed him a business card.

"My email address is on the card. Send me a copy of the video."

As the squad car pulled away, Dan made a call to his attorney, Dwight Solomon.

"It went down exactly as I thought it would. She was just arrested and carted off to jail."

"Just keep your cool Dan. If she shows up tomorrow, you know what to do."

+++

As Kendall exited the courthouse the next morning, accompanied by her parents, she was stopped by a twentysomething, gum-chewing blonde.

"Excuse me," she said as she stopped in Kendall's path. "Are you Kendall Kenner?"

"Yes," said a very tired, hungry, and annoyed Kendall Kenner. "Who are you?"

"You've been served," replied the blonde as she as she handed a shocked Kendall a manilla envelope. The blonde smacked her gum and turned her back on Kendall to walk away.

"What is this shit?" Kendall called to the blonde's back.

"Don't know; don't care," the blonde called back over her shoulder. "But I'd say you're probably fucked, whatever it is."

Kendall angrily opened the paper and saw the words Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.

"That motherfucker!" she screamed to her parents.

It had been a difficult morning. Kendall had been awakened early and removed from her jail cell before being taken to a holding cell in another part of the building. She sat in the holding cell for an hour before she met with her attorney. She had been allowed one phone call the night before and had used it to call her parents who had immediately started leaving voice messages at various law firms so that hopefully, they could hit the ground running the next day. They had contracted with the first lawyer who returned their call the next morning and were assured that Kendall would be represented at her hearing.

The judge has set Kendal's bond at ten thousand dollars which meant that she would have to either put up the full amount or pay a bail bondsman 10% and then pledge real property as collateral. The judge also issued a restraining order forbidding her from contacting her husband or appearing at the residence or his workplace. She was to make arrangements with her attorney to retrieve her belongings from the residence. Kendall's lawyer had objected to this but had then been shown photos of Kendall's husband. The objection was withdrawn.

After leaving the courthouse, Kendall's parents took her through the drive-through at McDonald's as a first stop. She had been booked into the Denton County jail too late to eat dinner and the jailers had awoken her early for a morning court appearance so she missed breakfast. Kendall had not eaten dinner the previous night, choosing to spend her time in bed with her boss, Tony. She planned to grab some leftovers out of the refrigerator when she got home last night but that plan had gone to shit. She thought about how she got here.

She and Tony had just finished their second round of sex when her phone dinged with an alert. While Tony dozed next to her, she checked her phone, expecting to see a text from Dan. What she had seen instead was a low balance alert from her bank. She quickly logged in on her bank's app and immediately saw that the joint bank account had only a few dollars on deposit. Two ACH withdrawals had hit the account that afternoon; one was for twelve thousand dollars and the other for eighteen thousand. A Google search of the payees revealed nothing.

Kendall knew that this could mean that they were scammed or that the bank had made a mistake. Kendall was an intelligent woman. She also realized that it could mean that Dan knew about her affair and had emptied the checking account. She did not believe that was the case, however. She knew her husband and knew that he was not afraid of confrontation. If he suspected her of having an affair, he would have said something. Dan Kenner was not the type of man to let something like this pass. She knew that, and yet here she was; lying next to her boss in a cheap motel after having sex that was spectacular in its mediocrity. Not for the first time she wondered what she was doing here.

Things had always come easy for Kendall. She was always the prettiest and smartest girl in class. She was seldom the most popular because other girls did not trust her. She had learned at an early age how to weaponize her sexuality and it was a gun she did not hesitate to draw. Starting with Mr. Campbell, her high school calculus teacher. A few blow jobs earned her an "A+". Letting Ms. Donovan eat her pussy got her an "A" in Econ. She never dated high school boys; she only went out with men; guys who had graduated from college and had good jobs.

College had been a rinse and repeat of high school. If she was struggling with a class, she would fuck the professor. And male or female, they all wanted to fuck Kendall. She had graduated college in four years, receiving a finance degree. She had thought about law school but knew that she was not a strong enough student. You couldn't fuck your way through law school.

For Kendall, her current affair with Tony Guyer, the senior director to whom she reported, meant nothing. It was a means to an end. If she was able to get in a little recreational sex, what a previous lover had called "sport fucking," while pursuing the promotion, then so much the better.

It was during her second year of employment at Chase Bank that she met Kyle Evans. Kyle had visited her bank branch as part of an investigation into possible money laundering activities by a suspected drug dealer. Kyle was on assignment to the Denton County Sheriff's Department Special Operations Division and his longish hair, mustache, and devil-may-care attitude had immediately dampened her panties. She brazenly asked him out for drinks and hopped into bed with him at the end of their first date. For Kendall, the sex was mind-blowing and she was cock-crazed for Kyle. Within two months they were living together. Within another year, they were married.

For Kendall, married life had been a revelation. She loved Kyle and wanted to do anything within her power to please him; domestically or sexually, it made no difference. Kendall and Kyle were perfect together. Until they weren't.

They had been married for four years and were actively trying for a baby. They had had no luck yet, but they were enjoying the attempts. Midway through their fourth year of marriage, Kyle was offered a chance to go to a four-week class put on by Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Although he would be gone for a month, having the ATF class on his resume would help Kyle when it came to promotions. Going was a no-brainer.

Kendall was lonely but fine during the first week of Kyle's absence. The second week was a little tougher as her hormones combined with her loneliness to ramp up her horniness. By the end of the third week, Kendall was crawling up the walls and masturbating twice a day. During the fourth week, Kendall agreed to go out for drinks with Bill Williams.

William Williams, known as either "Bill Squared" or more commonly "Square", was an ex-partner of her husband in the Denton County Sheriff's Department. Kendall wasn't exactly sure what led to their fallout, but she knew that they were no longer friends. She accepted his invitation for drinks with the vague thought that she could help patch over the differences. Plus, he was a good-looking man and she was lonely. What could be the harm?

Kyle had done very well in the ATF class. He was leading in class standings which was important because going into the final week, whoever was ranked number one had the option of taking the final exam three days early. If they passed, they got to leave early; if they failed, they had to stay for the remainder of the class.

Kyle aced the exam and three hours later was on an airplane heading towards DFW to surprise his wife.

It was 4:00 AM when the Uber dropped Kyle off in front of his darkened house. He recognized the car of his ex-partner, Square in the driveway. A cold fist gripped Kyle's heart as he unlocked his front door and entered the house he shared with Kendall. He left his suitcase by the front door as he walked softly towards the bedroom.

The room was partially lit by the light from the master bathroom. Square was lying on his back uncovered. His cock was crusty from Kendall's juices drying in the air. Kendall lay on her side facing him; her arm thrown over his chest. It was the same way that she slept with her husband.

Kyle took out his phone and began filming the couple as they slept. After thirty seconds or so of filming, he took a few photos and then put his camera away. Kyle then walked around to Square's side of the bed (until tonight, Kyle's side) and clasped his hands together interlocking his fingers. He then raised both hands above his head and with all his strength, drove his joined hands downward onto Square's penis.

The blood-curdling scream that erupted from Square woke Kendall from her orgasm-induced, dreamless sleep. She was frightened and disoriented as she came awake. She saw Bill crying and clutching his groin with both hands. She saw her husband standing over them but for a moment her brain could not process what was happening. And then it all clicked into place.

Kendall looked at her husband with a terrified look on her face. The horror of what was happening was slowly being understood by her. Her husband looked down at her. His face was red with fury as he looked at his soon-to-be ex-wife.

"I'll be back at three to get my things. I should be done by six. Don't be here during that time. I won't be responsible for my actions if I see you, and you're not worth going to jail or losing my job."

Kyle grasped Square by his hair and pulled his face up to look into his eyes. "You sorry piece of shit. I'm sending a copy of the video to your wife and HR. You may as well go in and resign today because your career is over and so is your marriage." Kyle gave him one final punch to the nose, not hard enough to break it but hard enough for it to spew blood. He turned on his heel and left his home and Kendall.

Kendall sighed as she remembered how hurt Kyle had been by her cheating. Her big strong husband was devastated and she was afraid he would never recover. He had refused every one of her attempts to contact him. He would not see her or speak to her. The divorce happened and her parents supported her explaining that it was not her fault. Kyle must have had a violent streak to do that much damage to Bill. His violent streak would have doomed their marriage sooner or later. Her story evolved to one of neglect and abuse on his part. Hadn't he shown his violent tendencies when he confronted Bill? As Kendall and her parents rewrote history to make herself the victim, she became the hero of her story. The brave girl who did what she had to do to escape the brute that her husband had become.

Only one time was her fiction thrown in her face. Kendall was shopping at Engstrom's in Dallas when she came face to face with her ex-husband. He was with a tall, lean gorgeous woman. She had red hair and the body of an athlete. She looked vaguely familiar. She was pushing a pram.

Kendall's eyes had widened at seeing her ex-husband for the first time in five years.

"H-hi, Kyle," she stammered.

"Hello Kendall," he replied tonelessly.

She had stuck out he hand towards the woman. "Hi, I'm Kendall. I used to be married to Kyle."

"Oh yes...I've heard all about you," the woman replied as she shook Kendall's hand.

Kendall had flushed at that. "I'm sure nothing good."

"Some good. Some not so good," the woman had replied. "I'm Cori Calloway. I'm Kyle's wife. This is our son, Kyle, Junior." Kendall had looked down at the sleeping infant. The hardest thing she had ever done in her life was keeping a smile on her face as she looked at her ex-husband's new family.

"He's a beautiful baby. You're a lucky woman to be married to Kyle. He's a good man. It was good seeing you again Kyle."

Kyle had just looked at her with contempt, grabbed the woman by the hand, and strolled to the men's department as they pushed the pram along.

A few days later, while watching the local evening news, Kendall was shocked to find the news anchor was the woman that she had seen with Kyle. That's why she looked familiar. Kendall had googled Cori Calloway and discovered that she was a fast-rising media talent who would probably end up on one of the national cable news channels. Local media watchers had noted that while pretty enough (if not necessarily slutty and vapid enough) for FOX News, her intelligence made her a better fit for MSNBC, although she would have to develop a more condescending tone if she were to move to that network. For now, she was becoming immensely popular on local news.

Kendall had cried herself to sleep that night and every night for the next week until she remembered her fiction. Kyle was violent and emotionally abusive, wasn't he? It was only a matter of time before his new marriage ended as well.

Kendall forced herself back to the present as she contemplated what divorce would mean for her.

After eating her Egg McMuffin, Kendall demanded that her parents take her to her home.

"That's not a good idea, honey," her father had said.

"I need to talk to Dan. I need to explain to him what happened. We can work through this."

"Ken," her mother began; "I don't think that's a good idea. The judge said..."

"I don't care what the judge said," Kendall snapped at her mother. "Just take me home."

Kendall's parents had accompanied her to her front door and watched as she rang the doorbell. They stood there for a couple of minutes waiting and then Kendall rang the doorbell again. When again, nothing happened, Kendall started pounding on the door.

Dan made a quick phone call before he opened the front door, keeping the security chain in place.

"You're not supposed to be here. There's a restraining order to keep you away."

"I live here," Kendall said. "How can we fix our marriage if I'm not here?"

Dan looked at Kendall incredulously. "Fix? I'm divorcing you. We're not 'fixing' anything. I'm not going to stay married to a lying, abusive cheater. You need to get out of here." Dan closed the door which enraged Kendall who began pounding on the front door.

"Let me in, you chicken-shit motherfucker! You've never seen abuse until you see what I'm going to do to your coward ass. Open this door, right fucking now!" She began a frenzied pounding on the door.

Seeing their daughter's distress, Kendall's parents began pounding on the door as well. As their daughter became more and more upset, their calls to Dan became louder and more emotional.

"Open the door Dan, or I swear to god I will kill you. I will cut your heart out with a steak knife," Kendall shouted.

"Open the goddamned door, you fucking grease monkey," Kendall's father shouted. "I will put you down, boy!"

Dan sipped his coffee and shook his head as he watched the video from his doorbell camera. He watched as the squad car pulled into the driveway and as the two officers approached the front porch. The officers spoke to the group for a minute and then one of the officers broke away and rang the doorbell. Dan opened the door and invited the officer in.

After securing Dan's identification, the officer asked Dan for his side. He had noticed the cuts and bruising on Dan's face.

"Last night I confronted my wife about an affair she is having. I have proof of the affair because I hired a private investigator. She became violent during the confrontation and attacked me," Dan said, pointing to the bruising on his face.

"She was arrested last night and appeared in court this morning. She was issued a restraining order forbidding her from entering her residence." Dan handed the officer the copy of the TRO that his attorney had emailed him.

"I also have this," Dan said as he showed the officer his phone. He hit play and they watched a video of Kendall and her parents knocking on the door and making threats. The officer just shook his head as he watched them.

"Well, this seems pretty cut and dried. Send me a copy of the video," the officer said as he handed Dan a business card. He then keyed his shoulder mic and requested two more cars for multiple arrests. "Stay inside and watch the shit show from your phone. Do not exit your house until I tell you."