Chapter 17

The look in Rick's eyes was murderous as he walked from the light switch over to where she was leaning across Ron's desk with her skirt bunched up around her waist and Ron's cum leaking out of her ass. He never took his eyes off of her as he advanced toward her. She heard Ron chuckle and say:

"I told you the bitch was a slut."

He chuckled again and was starting to say something when Rick hit him and knocked him to the floor. "Get over by the door" Rick snarled at her. She stood up and hurriedly dropped her skirt and went over and stood by the door. Ron was starting to stand up and he was saying:

"What the hell did you do that for? Jesus, that hurt. You knew what I was going to do so why the fuck did you hit me?"

"I hit you, you fucking asshole, because you were supposed to be my friend. A friend wouldn't do what you just did to me."

"Then why did you bet me that I couldn't do it if you didn't expect me to try?"

"You weren't supposed to win that's why. I wouldn't have taken your money if you had lost, but you just had to win the bet, didn't you?"

"She's a slut Rick. I knew she was a fucking slut and as your friend I thought you needed to know."

"Bullshit Ron. If you were a friend you would have alerted me so I could check it out. A real friend wouldn't have done what you did. You fucked her so you could rub my nose in it. Only an ass-wipe would have me come into the room so he could show me."

Rick turned to her and asked, "Is this the first time you fucked him?"

She couldn't find her voice so all she could do was nod a yes. Maybe if Ron stayed intimidated he wouldn't mention the earlier fuck and the blow job. The anal sex had been bad enough, but if it was all Rick knew about it would be better for her when she tried to talk with him. That hope was dashed when Rick said:

"This dirt-bag says he fucked you over an hour ago and a half hour later you came back and sucked his cock. Is he lying?"

For just a second she considered lying and saying yes, but what if Ron had some way to prove it. Lying would only make it worse. She looked away from Rick and said, "I meant that tonight was the first time." She saw the look of disgust on his face as he reached into his pants pocket and took out some money. He handed it to Ron, but Ron wouldn't take it.

"No man, I don't want your money."

"Want has nothing to do with it asshole. We bet, I lost, take the money."

"No" Ron said and Rick quickly grabbed Ron's wrist and jerked Ron toward him. She saw the look on Rick's face and it scared her. She had only seen it once before. She and Rick had stopped at a convenience store on the way home from dinner one night and Rick had seen six guys picking on a homeless man. His eyes got very dark and scary and he got out of the car and he walked right into them and they took one look at him and took off running. She knew he was in some special kind of unit when he was in the service, but he never talked about it. If you asked him about what he did he said he was a glorified clerk. But she didn't think a clerk would have gone after six guys the way Rick did. He had that same look in his eyes as he grabbed Ron's wrist.

Rick placed the money in Ron's hand and then he forced Ron's fingers to curl around the bills. And then Rick did something so fast that she wasn't even sure she had seen it and Ron screamed and went to his knees with a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder. He was crying in pain when Rick leaned down and said:

"That is just a sample of the hurt I'll bring down on you if you ever tell another living soul about what went on here tonight and if I hear a rumor about her I'll know where it started and your life won't be worth spit. You will forget you even know her name. You had better stay out of my way from now on. You see me walking toward you, you had best turn and go the other way. I'll have to be civil to you at work, but I catch you any place away from work I will not promise to be good. Do you understand me?"

Ron shook his head yes and Rick said, "No head nods ass-wipe, I want to hear you say it. Do you understand what I just told you?"

"Yes" Ron hissed through pain clenched teeth.

"Good" Rick said and then he turned to me and said, "Get your cheating ass out of here and get in the car."

The venom in his voice made her hesitate for a moment and she showed some of her usual spark.

"Why? So you can take me home and break some of my bones?"

"You choice you cheating cunt. Get in the car or stay here with ass-wipe, but I'm leaving now with or without you."

She knew that her only hope to save her marriage was to stay close so they could talk so she unlocked the door and headed for the car. She sat in the car and waited for Rick and it was all she could do to hold the tears back. It wasn't fair! She had quit! She had rededicated herself to her marriage because she didn't want to lose Rick and now this. She shook her head at the very irony of it. She fought off all the attempts of Ron to get together with her. If she had just said to hell with it and named a time and a place it would have been over and done with before she got her wake-up call and the night wouldn't have happened. What could she say to Rick? How could she salvage anything out of the night's disaster? She knew she had to try. She couldn't lose Rick; she just couldn't.

It was about five minutes before Rick came out and got in the car. As he put the key in the ignition he said:

"Not one word Kathleen; not one fucking word. If I hear you say, "Honey, I can explain" or "Baby, it's not what you think" I swear before God I will not be responsible for what I do. Just sit there and keep your mouth shut. The only thing you have going for you right now is that you are the mother of my children. Or at least I hope to God they are mine."

The trip was made in silence and once they were in the house and the babysitter had been paid and sent home Rick said:

"Get everything of yours out of the bedroom and into the guest room. You will be staying there while I decide what I am going to do."

She felt a little sliver of hope when he said that. At least he hadn't gotten home and then put her out of the house. She moved what she needed for the night and morning and left the rest for when Rick went to the golf course on Saturday. The kids were done with dance and swimming lessons so she would have time to get it all moved. Hopefully he would take out most of his aggression on golf balls and would be somewhat calmer and settled when he got home. If she could just get past the next day.

She did not sleep at all that night. Even if Rick did come home a little calmer on Saturday what could she say to him? He had been in the room when Ron had taken her so she couldn't deny it. It was obvious that Ron had set her up for what happened, but why? To make her suffer for making him wait so long? If she had given in earlier would he still have exposed her to Rick? What could she possibly say to Rick when he demanded to know why she had given Ron the sex that she had? She could tell the truth - that he was blackmailing her - but then Rick would want to know what she had done that Ron could hold over her head. She couldn't tell him that. No way could she ever tell and she hoped to God that Ron would believe all that Rick had said to him and that he would give Rick a wide berth. If he stayed away from Rick and took the warning about starting rumors to heart Rick would never know about the cell phone picture.

Damn! She didn't know what to do. And what was Rick going to do? She was sure that he would not physically hurt her, but she knew him well enough to know he wasn't going to shrug it off. He wouldn't say, "Okay Kathleen, water under the bridge. Let's move on." No, Rick was not a wimp. He would not sit still for being made a cuckold. He would take some action, but what? Did his statement that the only thing she had going for her was that she was the mother of his children mean that he was going to let her stay?

She was still awake when she heard the alarm go off in the master bedroom and she laid there and listened to Rick get ready to go to work. She didn't get out of bed until she heard the garage door opening and then close. She busied herself with her normal morning routine, getting the kids up and getting them off to school and then she called work and told them that she was sick and wouldn't be in that day. She sat at the kitchen table, sipped her coffee and stared out the window at the back yard as she tried to think of what she could do. After an hour of thought she finally decided that she had lie to Rick to have any chance at all of saving her marriage. She had to give him a reason he could accept for her having done what she had done with Ron. If he went to Ron to verify what she said she would be toast. But if she didn't come up with something he could believe she was toast anyway. All she could hope for was that he would believe that she wouldn't paint so bad a picture of herself if it wasn't true. Once she had decided on what she was going to do she went into the master bedroom and started moving her stuff out and into the spare room.

When Rick got home that night she had dinner ready and as soon as dinner was over she did the dishes, put them away and went to play with the kids. She stayed with them until it was time to put them to bed expecting that Rick wouldn't tear into her while they were still up. Once she got them to bed she went right to the spare bedroom and closed the door. She hoped that Rick would wait for Saturday before talking with her. She hoped that by staying out of his sight it would give him a little more time for his rage to fade some. It wasn't to be. Rick gave the kids time to fall asleep and then he came into the room and said:

"Get your cheating ass down to the kitchen."

She followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen and he pointed at a chair and said:

"Sit!"

She took a seat on the chair he pointed to and then sat down across from her. He looked at her without saying anything for almost a minute and then he said:

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I love you Rick, you know I do."

"That didn't keep you from fucking Ron."

If Ron had told Rick about what he had a picture of - her sucking a cock on the train - then she was cooked. Her only chance was to hope Ron hadn't told Rick why he knew she was a slut, just that he did and could show Rick. She took a deep breath and launched her lie.

"He blackmailed me. He knew something about me and he threatened to tell you if I didn't give in to his demands."

"What did he have that was so bad that you would fuck him to keep me from finding out?"

"He caught me giving Dave Holbrook a blow job at Helen Catron's birthday party."

The disgust was obvious on Rick's face as he said, "My God, it just gets worse. How many other guys have you had sex with?"

"Just last night with Ron and the one time with Dave. Dave was more of a rape than anything else, but that wouldn't have mattered if Ron hadn't seen it. If Ron hadn't seen it I would have told you about it, but Ron did see it and he told me if I didn't put out for him he would tell everybody. I couldn't let that happen. If only you and Dave and I knew, I knew you would take care of Dave. But everyone we knew knowing about it? No, I couldn't let that happen. Even though Dave forced me I wouldn't have been able to face people.