Author's Note: This is an open challenge to all the writers at SOL. I have been getting a lot of feedback about how bad my cheating stories are. So, here is my challenge! I challenge you to write a cheating story, with the theme of overhearing your loved one in their sleep about the person they are cheating with. This can be a cheating wife or husband or even a fiancée. There should be ... either in the title, or the synopsis ... the word 'Voice' or a mention of my challenge.

That's it! Now, let's see if anyone else can write a better cheating story!

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason? You just lie there, wondering why you're awake, and what made you wake up in the first place. Well, about a month ago, I did just that. Ever since then, my life has been a living hell. The reason for all this hell, is that a couple of minutes later I heard a voice that night that has forced me to totally re-evaluate my whole life, and what I plan to do for the rest of it. It had also changed me from the mild mannered sweet man that I once was, into a rage filled, heartless bastard. Well, to some people, anyway.

Let me explain. First, my name is Ben Logan ... well; actually, it's actually Benjamin Franklin Logan. I am thirty-two years old, and stand six feet tall at one hundred eighty pounds. I am not bad looking, as far as that goes. I'm not movie star handsome, but I'm not ugly, either. I run and work out to keep myself fit. I'm a division manager for my company, and I live in central Texas. My name comes from my two grandfathers, Benjamin Logan and Franklin Bash.

I'm married to the former Denise Woods who is 30, 5'-6", very attractive, and the love of my life. Well, 'was' I guess is more to the point; as, when I lay awake that horrid night, I heard her mumbling in her sleep. Denise is definitely movie star beautiful. She has very svelte figure with 38C chest, a slim waist and a heart-shaped ass that is to die for. Her ass is not her best feature though. That has to be her legs. Sometimes when she walks in front of me it seems that her legs gone on forever, all the way up to her neck. But they don't, because then where would her fantastic ass be. Naked and from behind, she looks to be about 6' tall with those beautiful gams. Yeah, I know who has heard that word in a long time? But her legs take me back to the old pin-ups I have seen of Betty Grable in her swim suit, but for looks think Kim Novak from 'Bell, Book and Candle' when she played the witch who was smitten by Jimmy Stewart and tried to bewitch him. That's my Denise.

Going back to that awful night, when I heard my wife speak those mumbled words that broke my heart and killed a great eight year marriage.

"But, Baby, I can't. Ben's trip got canceled, and he'll be home the whole time."

Needless to say it took a very long time for me to go back to sleep. In fact it had to be almost six before I drifted off again. The day before, I'd had to cancel my travel plans for an upcoming corporate meeting in New York City, due to some problems with a couple of the board members and directors of the parent company I work for.

Before the endless night was over I heard two more murmurs. One was, "Dennis, I'll let you know when." And the other was, "Of course I love you, Baby, no one but you."

The alarm came much too early for me after such a sleepless night. I had awoken at 3:05am according to the clock on my dresser and had gone to bed about 11:30. So when the alarm went off at 7, I'd had about four hours of sleep. But, except for the first three hours of the night, my sleep had been anything but restful.

Denise didn't act any differently than she had on any other morning. We each got up, showered, dressed, had breakfast and drove our separate ways to work. Denise worked for an ad agency in southwest Austin. I worked for a manufacturing plant in northeast Austin. We lived near the bedroom communities northeast of Austin between Hutto and Pflugerville. When my parents settled here after my dad retired from the Air Force, he bought fifty acres of farmland that is now pretty much surrounded by housing subdivisions.

Once at work that morning I called an old friend, Alan Reed of Reed and Reed Investigations. Alan had been my best friend growing up. Both our dad's were military men and were stationed together during our formative years. From the time we were about ten until we graduated high school, we were here in the Austin area. John Reed bought ten acres about a half mile down the county road we lived on and we went to school together from fifth grade on.

Alan and I joined the Air Force the same day and put in our four years. He was a police investigator and I was an avionics technician. While we were in, we also started our college education, to get our degrees. I ended up with two bachelor degrees: electrical engineering and business management. Alan also got two: criminal justice and law enforcement. We both finished out our education as fifth year seniors at Texas State University in San Marcos, just south of Austin.

Once we graduated, Alan worked as a police officer in Pflugerville and then as an investigator for the Austin Police Department. Then some budget cuts came down, and he struck out on his own. Because of his experience, his excellent work, and the connections he had formed with the police, he was used by most of the local DA's and police departments as well as many of the area's lawyers.

I, on the other hand, found a job with an up and coming manufacturing firm. They could make damned near anything out of foam or plastic. The company had started out small. By the time I joined them, the manufacturing floor had just expanded to three buildings, and almost nine thousand square feet. The offices were in another building, on site. I had continued my education, and now had a master's in manufacturing engineering.

Anyway, Reed and Reed consisted of Alan, his wife, Shelia, and James Reed, a son of his dad's brother, and his baby sister, Angela. I think now he had several others working for him as his offices took up the whole third floor of one of the big bank buildings in North Austin. I called Alan first thing after I got in the office that morning, and explained what I had heard.

"Ben, I'm so sorry to hear that. I thought you guys had a great marriage. What do you want me to do?"

"Alan, is there such a thing as a voice recorder that will record up to about ten hours?"

"Yeah, Ben, we just got something in that will record to a flash drive. It has a twelve hour record time. It can be made to record continuously or on sound activation. It can be wirelessly downloaded to a computer if it's within a hundred yards. Is that something that you would want for there in the bedroom?"

"That is perfect. Also, I want the whole house wired for sound and video. I want to know what, if anything is going on. Also I think there is some new guy at Denise's work that started sometime last year, maybe before or around the holidays. I also think she said that his name is Dennis; but I kind of passed it off, at the time."

"Hey, no problemo, buddy; we can take care of you. Can I have someone stop off for a key and the alarm code so we can get the house set up, today? The recorder will be set up in your bedroom and it will download to your laptop. You can turn it on before she goes to bed, and turn it off after you get up in the morning. Then, once you get the download, send it directly to me. But please, for your own peace of mind, do not play it back. Let me take care of it for you, Ben. And don't worry about the cost, this won't be free, but it won't be real expensive either. Not for you, I still owe you big for saving my life. So you let me worry about this. You just keep on doing what you normally do, and I'll find out the skinny on Denise."

"Alan, you have no idea how good that makes me feel, to know that I have one person in my corner on this. I really don't know if I can live through this, if it turns out to be true."

"Not to worry, Ben. You have a lot of friends. We'll stick by you, no matter what. I'll send Angie over for the key and the code. I'm sure you remember her. That way, you know we'll be set to go. Just hang in there, Ben. We'll find out everything there is to know about this. For right now, just think about this being a wild-ass dream. We can help you get through it, together. See you soon."

"Thanks, Alan. I'll expect Angela this morning, then. See you soon."

That thing about my saving Alan's life is not your normal saving someones physical life like I pulled him from a burning building or saved him from drowning. This was I guess a more mental and physical saving. Alan had started dating Alicia Krause while we were in high school and they were getting pretty serious. Alicia was a real looker, but she also had a real problem. We later found out that she was not only bi-polar, but also a homicidal maniac. But in school, she was very popular and fun to be around. Alan asked her to go out, and they had some pretty good dates ... well, at least Alan had thought so.

I'd heard from Susie Gooding, Alicia's cousin, that Alicia's mother was not around anymore. She'd had to be institutionalized at a distant mental facility, due to some mysterious circumstances that no one in the family was talking about. But the one thing she did say was that this had happened to Alicia's grandmother and her great grandmother, too.

The doctors thought that somehow this was hereditary, and that they had to really watch Alicia, because the symptoms had been appearing earlier in life in each succeeding generation. Alicia's mother was positively diagnosed when she was thirty and her mother at forty-two. But Alicia's mother was having problems as young as twenty-five. Once I found this out, I let Alan know about it, and told him to watch her closely.

Things went on fine during our junior year, and all the way up to our senior year and the prom. At the dance everything was great; we all had a great time. However, as things were winding down, everything kind of went to hell. Alicia came back from the bathroom and seemed a little off, and then as we went outside she turned on Alan and accused him of cheating on her with the Johnson twins.

Now Kathy and Kendra Johnson were two of the hottest girls in school and most guys knew that they were also two of the biggest teases and practical jokers in the school. Apparently they said something in the bathroom about how they had enjoyed many an evening in Alan's company. They even said how great he was in the sack.

Alicia rounded on Alan and was pushing and hitting him, and then something snapped inside her. Think: the chaos of Steven King's 'Carrie', and the power of Charlie from 'Firestarter', all rolled into one. That gets you an inkling of what Alicia turned into. Oh, hell, throw in Cujo, too; because before her tirade was over, she was acting like a rabid dog!

I had sent my date, Shelia Silverstone, back inside the hotel to call the police. I tried to stop Alicia. She turned on me after just about beating Alan to a pulp between her purse, her fists, her feet and anything else she could find handy. I was able to get behind her, and grabbed her arms at her elbows. I pulled her back and lifted her up. About then, more help arrived in the form of a couple of the men teacher chaperones, and the security guy from the hotel. He cuffed her hands behind her, and he and I kept her away from everyone else.

Alicia was growling and trying to kick both of us and she also tried to bite the security guy. That is when I reached back and threw a fist right into her jaw. That stopped all of her fight. She was out cold. Once the police showed up, she had come around and was as nice as you please. They treated her nicely, but also at a distance. Alicia never came back to school. I talked to Susie and she said that Alicia was sent to the same place her mother went, and that her father had to moved, too. That was my great save of Alan Reed.

A few minutes later, Breanna Sherman, my able bodied PA, came in and said, "Ben you look like shit, what happened?"

"Nothing much, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. Oh and by the way I'm expecting a young lady, Angela Reed, this morning. Show her right in when she gets here. She's a family friend and I need to talk to her about some family matters. And, Bree, thanks for thinking about me. I'm sorry I upset you with my appearance. Also, can you get me Harold Lloyd on the phone, please? I need to speak to him about something that has recently come to my attention. Thanks, Bree."

Breanna (or 'Bree', as I call her now) has been with me for the last two promotions. First she was my secretary and now she is my personal assistant. I don't think I could get half my job done as efficiently as I do, without her.

"I'll have him on the line as soon as I can. Ben, are you sure you're all right? It's not like you to not sleep properly, and your eyes look kinda dull ... like you lost your best friend."

"It's okay, Bree, I'll be fine. Once I get some sleep, I'll be right as rain."

Breanna left and closed the door and that is when I lost it. Yeah, I know big tough guys like me aren't supposed to cry, but I just couldn't help it. It's kind of what you do when someone rips your still beating heart right out of your chest and then stomps on it until it is nothing but broken pieces scattered on the ground. I sat there hunched over my desk, silently sobbing, wondering what I had done wrong. Did I do something to make Denise cheat on me? Was I just not good enough in bed? Did I not I love her enough? What is wrong with me that she has to go and find love with someone else?

About then my phone/intercom buzzed and I heard, "Ben, Mr. Lloyd is on line two, and Miss Angelia Reed called to tell you she would be here in thirty minutes."

I picked up the phone and got on the line with Harold. "Harold, how are you today?"

"More to the point how are you doing today? Miss Sherman mentioned that you had not slept good last night, and then suddenly I get a call from you. That makes me wonder if things are not so rosy in the Logan household. So tell me, what's going on? Ben we've been friends too long for us to pussyfoot around the problem."

"Harry, you're right. You know me too well. I think my marriage is over. I heard Denise talking in her sleep about some guy named Dennis and that she loved him and that she couldn't do something because my out of town trip was canceled. I have Alan Reed already on board. He is going to wire the house and phone for sound and video, so we can find out what is going on. Also he said he would have someone tail Denise to see what she's doing. Anyway, I want you to start getting the paperwork ready for a divorce. I'll get you everything I have on the financial end. You know the farm is still in Dad's name and has been since before the marriage. What else do I need to do? Oh, yeah! I need to send you some money, right?"

"Ben, right now I can be retained for a dollar, but can we meet for lunch or something? I have a sheet with the things you need to do if this is real, but there are a few things that you can do right now regardless of whether this is real or not, to be able to protect yourself. Now, who does the finances for you, is it Denise or you?"

"Harry, Denise and I wanted to have our money separate, so we each contribute enough of our paychecks to a household account to meet our bills, plus a little extra to cover unexpected expenses. Then we each have our own savings accounts that we have our debit cards tied to. I pay everything online from the household account, and at the end of six months we split the excess and put it into our IRAs and the college fund for our future children. Is that real important?"

"Do you know what Denise makes at work?"

"Not really. I mean, I've see a few of her paycheck stubs in the desk drawer, but since we both contribute to the household account it was never a real issue. I'm pretty sure that I make more than her, but not by how much."

"How much does each of you contribute to the household account?"

"Well my part is twenty-seven hundred and some change twice a month and Denise adds another eighteen hundred every two weeks as well. So just over nine grand goes in each month and all our bills comes up to about seventy-two hundred a month so there is some extra there for incidentals or unexpected expenses."

"Good, Ben. If you can, get a copy of her latest paycheck stub; plus yours, too. Write up a list of expenses, and then we can go from there. You are actually better off with the way you work it, because she doesn't know what you make. If we can find out what she makes, we can get things started. Can you meet me at the Texas Roadhouse, up in Pflugerville, at say one tomorrow? Bring that information with you. I will get with Alan and add his information to the case, too. See you tomorrow, and I'm truly sorry this happened."

"Thanks, Harold, I just don't know what I did to make this happen."

"Ben, if I know you, you did nothing wrong. Don't beat yourself up about it. You are not the bad guy, here, Denise is."

By the time Harry and I had finished talking and I'd hung up, I got another buzz as Bree said, "Miss Reed is here."

"Send her in, Bree, and thanks."

The door opened; and boy, did I get a shock! The woman that came through that door made my wife Denise, look like a fugly dog. Angela was about five - two, and maybe a hundred and ten pounds, soaking wet in a parka ... but, what a package! She had that classic hourglass figure, and nothing but flawless skin on her face, arms and legs. She was not overly large top or bottom, but perfectly proportioned everywhere. She had light brown hair with some much lighter streaks. It was almost like sun bleached hair or as though she purposely had blond streaks added to her hair. Her eyes, when she approached me, were a glistening light green; not quite dark enough to be called emerald, in color. Her best feature, though, was her smile. I felt like I needed sunglasses to protect my eyes from that megawatt smile. I could not get over how that pigtailed little tomboy caterpillar from my youth, had turned into the beautiful butterfly of a perfect woman, today.

I got up from my chair and was moving around the desk with my hand out when this bundle from heaven wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight to her luscious body.

"God, Ben, it's been so long since I've been able to do that. You do know that I had the worst crush on you all through school? Then you went away, and I haven't seen you since Alan's wedding. I'm so sorry about all this mess with your wife; but we will find out what, if anything is going on. Rest assured that I will ... er, we will leave no stone unturned to find the truth."

When she unwound herself from me, I had to turn quickly or she would have seen my instant reaction to her hug. I retreated back behind my desk to let my hardness dissolve and motioned for her to sit while I tried to compose myself.

"Angie, you have certainly changed from that skinny little kid I remember from Alan's wedding. You were what, fourteen or fifteen, then?"

"Actually, seventeen, Ben; but, yeah, I did kind of grow out of that pesky little sister that you guys always picked on. Now, Al just said you needed help, and for me to get right over here. I'm to get your key and security code, so we can get your place wired for sound and video. So, tell me your situation, and then let me get to work. If I remember right, that old house has a lot of rooms, and lots of places to hide my toys."

I explained the situation and what I needed done. She said they could get that all taken care of in a couple of hours, and the van looked like a security alarm van. It was already on the way. I gave her my key and the alarm code. She said she would be back later to set up my laptop for the room recordings.

She came around my desk and hugged me again saying, "Ben, we'll get this taken care of for you. You can rest assured that we are very discrete. See you soon," and walked out of my office.

I tried my damnedest to try to get some work done, but nothing seemed to flow. I went down to the snack bar in our building for lunch, and had a burger and coke and sat at a small table back in the corner. We had that set up for people who wanted to be alone with their laptops or maybe a private phone call out of the heat of the outside tables. It was the middle of July, and the temperature would top a hundred and ten, today. Anyway, I sat there deep in thought, when my cell phone chirped. I glanced at the ID. It was Denise. I was really torn, but I figured I would have to answer it or give away the plans I had in the works. I hit the button to answer and put the phone to my ear.

"Hi, Honey! Are you going to be home on time, tonight? I thought I would fix us a nice supper, and we could relax out by the pool afterwards, maybe even fool around in the hot tub after it got dark. I know how much you like that."

"Damn, Denise, I sure would love that; but I need to get some numbers and a proposal together, for the board. They decided to do a video conference for tomorrow instead of us going up to New York, next week. From what I hear, one of the directors found out his wife has cancer, and it just blew him away. That's why the conference was canceled. So, they are having a quick video conference tomorrow, and then a big get together later this month. I'm going to be real late, tonight; but maybe this weekend, okay?"

"Oh, all right, Ben. But I sure was looking forward to tonight. How late do you think you'll be?"

"Oh, I should be home around ten or maybe eleven. No later than that. If I am, Bree and her fiancée would gladly kill me making her stay that late. Besides, I need a good night's sleep to be sharp for tomorrow's conference. I'll see you at home, later. Bye, Baby."

We talked for a couple more minutes, but I was having a real hard time keeping my anger and depression under control. Then Bree came over to my table and said I had a phone call, so I begged off and we left the snack bar. I wondered if Denise noticed that I didn't end our conversation with 'Love you' as I normally did.

Once at my office, Bree followed me in and said, "Benjamin Franklin Logan! Now tell me what the hell is going on, or I quit! I know that was your wife, and that you were struggling to keep your anger out of your voice, and out of the conversation. So, she must be screwing around on you; because I know if you were going to cheat on her, we would have already done the deed in your office."

She paused and just stared at me and I could see the fire in her eyes. I sat down heavily in my chair.

As I started to speak, Bree said, "Let's see ... Angelia Reed should be Reed and Reed Investigations, and Harold Lloyd would be the law firm of Weber, Prendergast, and Lloyd. So spill it Ben or I walk out of here and quit."

The fire in Breanna's eyes was pure hatred, and I could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. This lady was pissed, and if I didn't talk soon, that anger would be directed at me, and not at Denise.

"You might as well know everything. Please sit down, and please don't look at me with those fiery eyes. If looks could kill I would have been dead ten minutes ago."

I explained what I knew for certain, and what I surmised from what I had heard and not really paid much attention to. Then I told her what plans I had made and the other plans that were in motion.

"In conclusion, you know as much as I do, so please let me live, no on second thought, kill me now, I'm ready," I said as I opened my arms and sat back in my chair like a submissive dog or vanquished foe.

"Oh, you old fart, I could never be mad at you. Is there anything I can help you with? You do remember that I know Connie Schaffer over at Keller, Parker and Associates. That is the ad agency the bitch works at, right?"

"Who is this Connie, and why should she do or know anything about Denise?"

"Well, Connie and I grew up together and I introduced her to Randy, her husband ... A-N-N-n-d-d-d she just happens to work in HR, there. So, let me make a call and see if we can find out some things: like what Denise makes; and is there a Dennis that works there; and if there is, is she chummy with him. Then you will have more information, and no one needs to go to the agency to try to snoop around and get caught, or to let your cheating bitch know that you know anything. That's who Connie is."

"O-o-kay! I guess that works for me, I'll let Alan know that we have that part covered, now we really need to stay late tonight to get all the work done that I have been neglecting all morning. I hope that's all right with Jim and you?"

"Ben, Jim and I have an understanding. If I say I have to work late, that means I have to work late, and if he ever says he has to work late, then he also knows that I will be there sometime soon after I am done here and that I will be right there with him all night if necessary until he is done. In fact we usually get done faster because I help. But he trusts you and even though he knows that if I really wanted to start something with you, you would turn me down flat and call him immediately. Now that is trust and we aren't even married yet."

"You're right, Bree. I would call Jim immediately, if I thought that you were doing something behind his back. We have a kind of 'danger/early warning' pact type of thing between us. Whoever knows if the other is being stepped out on, speaks up. Then we will not be the last to know. So I believe you. Now can we get some work done? I didn't lie to Denise; I really do have to have a presentation ready for tomorrow. Of course it's almost done; I just need your finishing touches to make it presentable. Then I can maybe have some supper delivered, and you can invite Jim over for a meal."

That's just what we did. I put out a couple of fires that cropped up on a couple of production runs, and Angela came back with my key and loaded some software onto my laptop. She showed me how to turn the recorder on and off, and how to download the information from it and e-mail a copy to Alan. Then Breanna, Jim and I had some Cajun food (sent over from 'The Louisiana Longhorn Café' over in Round Rock), from the Dine on Demand Company. They pick up food ordered from wherever and deliver it to you, still hot, for a fee.

We had a real fine night. Denise called me about nine thirty to ask when I was coming home. I said I was just about to leave and that I would see her soon. We broke up our nice supper event and all went home.

When I got home Denise was dressed in a very pretty sheer black negligee and was all over me, but I feigned tiredness and said I was beat and just needed a bed. I could smell fresh soap on her so I knew she had freshly showered. She normally showers in the morning, not at night, so that was suspicious. I did start the recorder from my laptop before I went to bed. I also took two sleeping pills before I got into bed. I was out like a light about ten minutes later, and stayed asleep until the alarm went off the next morning.

Denise went into the bathroom, and I went to my laptop. I turned off the recorder and went about my normal morning routine. I summoned the courage and fortitude to kiss Denise goodbye, and then headed for the office. I e-mailed the overnight recording file to Alan and went about my day. My presentation went well and I received a lot of comments from the home office and the board members that were there. I heard some veiled references that our director may be moving up to the home office and that they were kind of looking for a replacement, locally. I knew I would have to talk to Monty Burns, our director, to let him know of my predicament. I stopped by his office to let him know that although I would love the job, if offered, I couldn't take it until my divorce was final. He understood perfectly as his brother had been raked over the coals from an unfaithful wife after he had been promoted two months before the divorce was final. He said if they really needed him up at the home office, then I would get the job, but not the money or the title until later. They would hold my promotion until afterwards and my year-end bonus would be based on my new position. He said that the home office was really impressed with my work, and with his recommendation that I take over for him, here.

I met Harold at the Roadhouse for lunch and gave him everything I had, and all that Breanna had found out from her friend Connie.

Things went about normal for a couple of weeks. It was torture for me to try to be civil to her, but we were getting a lot of good information from the tapes and surveillance that Alan's company was doing.

Then I got a call from Alan, shortly before quitting time. He said that they had everything wrapped up, and that Harold would be there soon with papers for me to sign. He reminded me that I needed to pay Harold my dollar.

"Hell, Ben, give him two dollars ... one for each of us, and we're square. It seems that your other half had a gentleman caller last night. We have it all on tape, with HD and surround sound. But hear this, Ben; I would strongly suggest that you never see that video. As for that recording from last night, there was nothing of interest on it. A few snores and you going over your presentation and her worrying about some new policy at work about non-fraternization with outside vendors, as well as employees within a division. I think that she may cool it for a while, but we've already got enough evidence to give us what we needed. They talked about when it started, and I think last night was going to be the end for a while. Boy, I'm sure glad we got this before they decided to stop."