Edited By Barney R. Screwed with afterward by me. All errors are mine.

She told me she had been cheating and was going to continue. My inner wuss died. She will not like the change.

I am Gary Wilcox, 40 and currently married to Katherine Wilcox, nee Kelmer 36. I am a corporate executive, and she is a school teacher. We have two children John is 14 almost 15, and Candy is 12, almost a teenager. They are my reason for breathing. My wife Kate, not so much anymore.

We were in the living room. I was trying to read the news on my tablet. My wife Kate said; “Gary, we have to talk about something.”

I knew what the talk was going to be about, I just did not know the actors or their places on this stage. I put down the tablet and looked up. “What did you want to talk about?” I left out the normal ‘dear’ that almost always added when we were talking. “It must be something serious if you say it in that tone of voice.”

She must have sensed that I knew something. Kate cleared her throat; “I don’t know ... This isn’t easy ... How can I say this so you won’t get angry... ?”

“JUST SAY IT”

“Yes; well I ran into Jack Simmons last month, and you know that I was dating him when we met ... anyway, I got to talking to him ... well we got to talking and decided we were going to go to his hotel room ... we had sex, and we have been having sex at least once a week since then. It doesn’t mean anything in our marriage, and when he leaves, it will be over.”

“Let me get this straight in my mind.” I said trying to keep the anger out of my voice; “You and the asshole that was beating on you when I saw you the first time are now ‘fuck buddies’? Is that what I am hearing? You are also telling me that you are going to continue to fuck him until he leaves?”

“You don’t have to be so crude. It’s not going to change anything at home.” She seemed oblivious to my obvious attempts at controlling my anger.

“That’s probably true; you said you saw him first about a month ago? Well, the impact on our marriage started then, because since then every time I try to initiate sex, you have found some excuse to turn me down. I am not even getting a ‘mercy’ fuck. You have to have your head so far up your ass that you can’t see that.”

“I knew you were fucking around almost as soon as you started; you changed overnight from a loving wife and mother to a cold heartless bitch that started arguments with me and screamed at the kids for no reason. Didn’t you wonder why the kids stopped asking you questions, or even talking to you? Why do they go to their bedrooms as soon as they come home from school? Why they don’t come out until dinner or until I come home? Did you think about any of those things?”

I was on a tear now; “You understand that while I have acted like a wuss for almost all of our marriage, I was just attempting to please you. You have two choices now, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE OR EAT SHIT AND DIE. What’s it going to be?”

Kate had started crying about a third of the way through my tirade. When I gave her the ultimatum she jerked back as if I had slapped her.

“Why would I leave, you are here and the kids are here?”

“That’s right and we are going to stay here, but you are not. I may be a wuss, but I will not endure a cheating slut in my home; and if you fight me on custody when we get to court over the divorce, I will tell the court, your family, your friends, and the other teachers at your school all about you and ‘the asshole’. Now go start packing, I will go rent you a U-Haul. Oh, don’t forget to leave the car and house keys, credit and ATM cards, and your engagement and wedding ring before you leave.”

“But ... But ... I am not leaving, I am just trying to be honest with you.” She was practically hyperventilating now.

“Listen, bitch, you are wrong on so many levels, the house is owned by my parents, the cars are both in my name only. If you leave with one, I will report it stolen. I will not let you live with my children in a house with an abuser, whether it is physical, mental, or sexual abuse. The kids told me that you introduced them to ‘the asshole’ and the way he looked at Candy made her very afraid and uncomfortable. John wanted to step in front of her to protect her. If you fight for custody, I will have my lawyer put them on the stand. What’s it going to be bitch; are you leaving or dying? It’s your choice, but nothing in between.”

She was nearly hysterical now. “I don’t want a divorce, I’ll end it, I’ll call him right now, and tell him it’s over. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

“You finally got something right; it is over. Our marriage was over the first time you took asshole to bed. The custody was over when you had the gall to introduce your lover to our kids. Your happiness with me was over as soon as you decided that he was worth going to bed with.” I got up, went to her purse, and dumped it on the kitchen counter. I took the house and car keys off of her key ring, opened her wallet and removed the credit cards, the ATM card, and the health insurance ID card.

Kate was still in the chair in the living room when I got done. I handed her the empty purse and told her that all of her personal shit was on the kitchen counter.

I turned away from her and went into the bedroom. I opened the closets and started to put all of her clothes on the bed. I went back to the kitchen and got several heavy-duty trash bags and started to fill the bags with her shoes.

She came into the bedroom and saw what I was doing. “Stop, Gary, please stop. Why are you doing this to me?”

“We took a vow, we stood up in front of our friends our families, and the church people and promised to ‘forsake all others’; you seem to have forgotten that.” I pointed to the clothes. “This is stuff, this is nothing, this can be replaced, but, you can’t uncheat, can you? Let me ask you something else, was he using protection? Also if he wasn’t, were you? You know you stopped BC pills years ago. Do you have a ‘bun in the oven’? One other thing he may have given you, have you been to the free clinic to get checked for a sexual disease? If you gave me a little present, that will come out in court also.”

She gave me a startled and very scared look. Kate’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“I’ll take that as a no.” I turned and walked away.

I met Kate just like I said, we were in high school, and as I was walking home one spring afternoon of my senior year, I heard a guy behind the house I was walking by shouting; “I am going to kill you, we are not breaking up unless I say so.” Then I heard what sounded like a slap. I went back to see what was going on and I saw Kate cowering on the ground, her blouse ripped, and Jack, ‘The Asshole’ Simmons had his hand in a fist and was ready to punch her.

I am not a stud, never was, but I had played a few sports, so I wasn’t a ‘98 pound weakling’ either. Jack had not seen me yet so when I said; “Jack, if that arm is not at your side and the grip on this lady is not released, I will personal rearrange your face and teeth.” He, by reflex, let her go and turned on me.

I quickly motioned her to run away from there. She was clear, and Jack was coming at me. I held my hands at my side and let him have the first swing. I ducked and he hit the top of my head. He screamed as the pain traveled up his arm.

I grabbed that arm, twisted his hand, and forced him to his knees. I said in a very low voice, “When I let go, I better see nothing but elbows and shoe soles as you run away. You had also better leave that girl alone, or I will be back to find out if you really have ‘shit for brains’ understand?

He nodded, I let go, and he took off like the ground was on fire and coming after him.

I went back to the front of the house and Kate was standing there. “Thank you. I was trying to tell Jack that I was breaking up with him because of his jealousy. He started yelling and hitting me. Thank you.”

I told her that I had warned him to leave her alone. Then I said; “If you need help, or if he starts to bother you again, come and get me. I see you in school almost every day, so know that I will be there for you.” Then I playfully added; “If you don’t know it already, I am Gary Wilcox, damsel rescuer extraordinaire. Who fair damsel, might you be? Allow me to present you with this cape to cover your person. It appears that you have suffered a clothing mishap.”

With that, she looked down and saw her torn blouse. Her industrial-strength bra was showing. She got all red in the face and all the way down to under that white bulletproof looking cloth. “I’m Katherine Kelmer, my friends call me Kate, and I will take that coat, thank you again.”

She put my jacket on and pushed the sleeves up about halfway so that her hands would show. She was small in stature, probably 5’ 4”, (she claims 5’ 6”, but I don’t believe it) and maybe 110 lbs. She has beautiful blue eyes and a sort of brownish blonde hair. I found out she was a sophomore and was a transfer in that year.

We walked to her house, and she asked me to come to the door with her. Once there, she kissed my cheek and thanked me again. I collected my jacket and went on my way.

The next day at school Kate saw me come in before homeroom, and latched on to my arm and dragged me over to meet her school friends. It turns out that she told them what had happened and they needed to meet the hero of that play.

After the introductions, I saw Jack walking down the hallway with his arm in a soft cast and a sling. He was with a couple of his cronies and when he saw me, he beat a hasty retreat. I found out later that that blow to the top of my head had broken a finger and sprained his wrist. He stayed away from me, and as far as I knew away from Kate for the rest of the time I was in high school.

I graduated and went into the service as an electronics warfare specialist. My job was to maintain and repair drones. I served my three years and did not get stop-lossed*. I had taken some general college courses while in the service, so when I was discharged, I enrolled at the local state college to get a business management degree. If I had the plan right, I would get my BA in three years and my MBA the next.

I ran into Kate at the college. She saw me and waved for me to come over. I did and she grabbed me in a hug. She asked if I was out of the service, and what I was doing on campus.

I took her to the student union building and got us some drinks. We caught up on each other. Kate told me that Jack had left school shortly after the start of their junior year. She explained that she had not enrolled in college right after she graduated, so she was a freshman.

I told her that I had just started college and was using my GI Bill benefits so I would not have big debts when I graduated. I explained my major. I asked her what her major was going to be.

“I’m studying to be an elementary school teacher. I love kids, and think that I can help them to learn.” She added; “I was very lucky, I earned several scholarships, and they even let me defer them for a year. I won’t have student loans to repay either.”

The talk went on like that for about half an hour. I had a class to get to and realized that I had not eaten the lunch that I had been heading to. It was worth a missed lunch to talk to Kate.

I saw Kate the next day and asked for her phone number. When she gave it to me I asked if she would go to a stage play with me the coming weekend. She said she couldn’t and then gave me backstage passes to the play. She laughed and said; “I have a second lead part in the play. Please come as my guest, and I will introduce you to the cast and crew.”

I called her and talked to her a couple of times. The play turned out to be very good, and Kate was great. I thought that she would have done a better job with the female lead than the lady who did it managed. Kate laughed and said maybe, but the lead was the director’s girlfriend, so there was not a chance she would get that part.

We started to date on a regular basis, not every week, but we only missed because of my school work, for the rest of the school year. When the spring semester was drawing to a close, I informed Kate that I was enrolled in two summer courses. She said she was going to be working at a summer camp with elementary school-age kids.

Kate asked me if I was planning on dating someone else while she was away for the summer. I responded that I was in a committed relationship, and while I had not asked for reciprocity, I hoped that my lady friend felt the same way.

Kate looked a little sheepish, “I have not been committed to you, on the weekends that we did not do anything together, I occasionally went out with other guys. Nevermore then once with the same guy, and I never turned you down for a date. I did not think you wanted a commitment like that.”

“Ok, I guess I can understand that. The only time I did not ask you out was when I had to study for a test or work on a paper. I’m sorry I did not make myself clear. Let me ask you this. Do you want a committed relationship with me?”

“I’m sorry Gary but I am not ready to do that. If I was it would be with you.”

“Ok, now I know where I stand, I won’t bother you again. If you come back to college in the fall, enjoy your college experience. It just won’t be with me. Have a nice, enjoyable summer.” I turned and walked away.

During the rest of my college career, I saw Kate go through guys like they were a date of the week club purchase. It seemed that she almost made a point to parade the newest, best boyfriend through the student union when she knew I was going to be there.