Chapter 1: Get Out of Jail Free

About nine or maybe ten days before Halloween, I entered the kitchen to find my wife at the stove preparing our breakfast. Sandy looked gorgeous as always, standing there in one of my old dress shirts and little else. She’d rolled up the cuffs, just enough to keep the sleeves out her way as she scrambled a few eggs. She rocked her hips in time with a song playing on the clock-radio we kept on a nearby countertop. Her ass moved side to side, rolling hypnotically beneath the thin, cream colored cotton. The bottom of the shirt covered her butt, barely, and offered an enticing view of her long, toned legs.

I loved watching her unawares, and paused for a brief seconds to enjoy the view before I hugged my wife from behind. I slipped my hands around her thin waist and buried my nose in a cloud of soft blonde hair. Sandy smelled like sleep and better yet, she smelled like our bed the morning after a night of passionate lovemaking. We’d been married almost three years and it seemed like three weeks. I loved her so much that it hurt sometimes.

Sandy had been awake for a while, being something of a morning person, and I’d awoken with my usual morning erection to a warm, but empty bed. Now, some twenty minutes later, after a shave and a shower, and dressed for work, my erection was back and I rubbed it against her perfect, heart-shaped ass. For just a moment I thought she might play along as she sighed softly and bent her knees, just enough to slide her bottom up and down my stiff cock.

“None of that,” she said, turning her face to give me a quick kiss. “You’re running late this morning. I already put your coffee on the table.”

“Late?” I glanced at the clock. “Nah, plenty of time, baby.”

I nuzzled her neck and moved my hands across her flat tummy to cup her gorgeous breasts. They were firm and heavy in my hands, generous c-cups that looked even larger on her slender frame. My wife was five foot nine, but sort of a willowy girl. Sandy had slender hips and shoulders, and whatever baby fat she’d had in high school had long since melted away. I loved her body, so soft and silky smooth, toned from the dance classes and yoga and whatever this week’s fad happened to be. I teased her sometimes about the way she and her clique of friends would jump from one bright idea to the next, but not too much. She deserved to have fun.

“I’m serious, John.” Sandy shrugged me off, but I could feel her nipples growing hard. She wasn’t just teasing me, we were both interested in more than breakfast, but she could somehow resist her desire. For the life of me, I didn’t know where she found all that willpower. It must be a woman thing.

“Alright, alright,” I sighed, reluctantly letting her go and taking my customary seat at the kitchen table.

She followed me with bright blue eyes and a sexy smile playing across her lips. An impish smile, I always thought, and Christ I just wanted to bend Sandy over the table and fuck her brains out. We’d dated throughout our senior year of college, followed by a hot August wedding and three years of happy marriage, and Sandy was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

“Oh.” I saw the card sitting on my plate. “So that’s why you’re smiling.”

“What’s that, honey?” Sandy put on her best, most innocent face.

I held up her innocuous gift, a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card from a long gone Monopoly game.

“Oh! That...” She teased me with her tongue and scooped some eggs out of the pan and onto my plate.

“Do you want to tell me?” I asked. “Or do I have to guess?”

“Mmmm...” She pursed her lips and giggled softly. “Go ahead and guess, that might be kind of fun.”

“Really?” I had to laugh with her. “Let’s the games begin, huh? Okay. You want to go on that cruise that you and your sister have been talking about.”

“That’s a pretty good guess,” Sandy said, taking her seat beside me and reaching for a piece of toast. “But that’s not it.”

“Yeah?” I sipped some coffee and forked some eggs into my mouth as I tried to think.

This was a game we’d started back in college and to be truthful, I don’t remember if it had been Sandy’s idea or mine. I think probably hers, because I was usually a bit too serious and my thoughts didn’t run to playful mind games. I was much more an instant gratification guy, and Get Out of Jail, as we called it, was all about planning ahead. At least the way Sandy played.

For me, well ... I’d played the card last June to buy a used bass boat that I just had to have. My sensible wife had objected, and probably with good reason, but we could afford it with only a small pinch to our budget, and I wanted it.

And because she couldn’t say no, I’d gotten my boat and Sandy had gotten the card. We alternated like that; spending the Get Out of Jail Free card meant that you were willing to accept what the other person wanted the next time around. It was fair, it eliminated some silly arguments, and it made life a little more interesting at times. Bass boats, notwithstanding.

Of course, we had rules. They were the unspoken kind and not written down anywhere, but that’s what a marriage is, right? You have your vows and your promises, but everything else you share is largely unwritten and agreed to through love and understanding. Get Out of Jail was merely an extension of that and the biggest rule was that it could never supercede our marriage. The game, and the personal desires that it represented, were not more important than our love. That was the rule, and an inviolable one as far as I was concerned.

“You want us to have a threesome with Katie,” I suggested, wiggling my eyebrows playfully.

“What?” Sandy gasped and tried to look suitably shocked, but she knew my fantasies well enough. “I promise, you will never, ever get in bed with my best friend.”

“Oh. Well, that’s too bad.” I glanced at my watch. “You’d better just tell me then. I’m not gonna be able to guess, baby. You’re a complete mystery to me.”

“I believe that!” she said, grinning. “Halloween.”

“Huh?”

“I’m using the card for Halloween,” she said.

“What about Halloween?” I asked. “It’s like the dumbest holiday of the year. In fact, it’s not even a holiday.”

“Arbor Day is dumber.”

“Okay, yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “Arbor Day is stupid.”

“Alright, listen...” Sandy leaned closer and grabbed my hand, always a bad sign. Seriously.

“Am I going to like this?” I wondered aloud.

“Mmmm...” Sandy tilted her head and shrugged. “Maybe.”

I put down my fork with the other hand and picked up a napkin, wiping my mouth before I spoke. “Tell me.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” she said, but gave my fingers a squeeze at the same time. “I just want to pick out our costumes for the party.”

“Katie’s party?” I asked, and my wife nodded. “Okay. Well, as long as it isn’t too weird. You’re not going to embarrass me, right?”

“Of course not!” she said, but then spoiled it with a smirk.

“I knew it!” I frowned and shook my head. “What is it, Sandy? Are you going to make me wear a dress or something? Dress me up as a prostitute so you can be my pimp? That’s what Tina did to her boyfriend, remember?”

“Yeah, that was pretty funny,” Sandy said. “Tina’s a nut.”

“Well, it wasn’t funny for him,” I said. “I felt sorry for the guy.”

“Oh, you pinched his ass just like everyone else,” she reminded me. “Don’t get all righteous with me, buddy!”

“I was drunk.” I laughed. “Anyway, if you want to embarrass me a little, okay, but real humiliation is too much. I’d never do that to you.”

“I know,” she agreed. “Look, I just want us to have fun with this. Okay? I promise, nobody will be pinching your butt.”

“Hmmm...”

“Even if it is pretty sexy!” Sandy gave me a playful smile with a bit of pink tongue. “Please, John? Don’t say no ... You haven’t even seen your costume yet. It’s against the rules to say no until all the facts are in.”

“Where did that rule come from?”

“I just made it up, but it’s true and you know it.”

My wife did have a good point. All I knew for certain on that particular morning was that we were going to her best friend’s Halloween party and Sandy would be picking out my costume. There had to be more to it than that, however. I would have pretty much worn whatever she wanted even without the card, and we both knew it, so...

“What else?” I asked. “Tell me the rest.”

“Look at the time, honey. You have to get going!”

I did look at the clock and she was right. I barely had enough time to wolf down a few more bites, finish my juice, and get on the road or I’d be late for work.

“We’ll talk about it tonight,” Sandy promised. “I love you!”

“Love you too,” I managed, pulling the front door shut and knowing this would bother me all day long. Whatever my sexy wife might really be planning, I was sure that it had very little to do with my Halloween costume!

After dinner, I was surprised to hear the doorbell ring. I’d been trying to wheedle more information out of my wife for two long days, but Sandy refused to even give me a hint of her nefarious plans.

“What?” She burst into laughter and nearly spilled her wine. “My plan is not nefarious!”

“So tell me what it is then,” I practically begged, which only made her that much happier to keep me in the dark.

We were sitting in the living room, parked like old folks in front of the television, but there wasn’t much on. It was just background noise while my wife and I finished the bottle of wine she’d opened with dinner. She’d cooked a roast, which had turned out excellent. Sandy didn’t look like a typical housewife, but she could cook. She could do anything and her good looks weren’t the only reason I was so crazy in love with her. We’d been talking about kids recently, approaching the subject only slowly, and I couldn’t wait to see her a mommy.

Ding-Dong

It was nearly eight o’clock on a Thursday night. I looked up at the sound of the doorbell and frowned at my wife. “Who the hell is that now?”

“Oh! That must be Jason,” Sandy said, practically jumping to her feet with a happy grin. “I’ll get it, honey. Just stay right there.”

“Jason?” I had to search my memory because the geeky kid that used to mow my lawn was the last person I would have expected to ring our doorbell.

“From across the street,” she said. “You know him! ... Hi, Jason! Thanks for coming over.”

“No problem, Mrs. Shanigan,” he said, grinning stupidly.

The guy was nineteen or maybe twenty by then, but he still lived in his mom’s basement, and obviously had very limited experience with women. Jason’s cheeks went from pasty white to near scarlet as Sandy offered him her best smile. The knee-buckler, I called it, and my wife swore she didn’t practice in the mirror, but I didn’t believe her.

“Did you get everything you need?” Sandy asked, stepping aside so the boy could stumble into our house. He was all arms and legs, hugging a backpack to his chest like a shield.

“Everything what?” I wondered.

“Uh, hey Mr. Shanigan ... I, uh ... S-Sorry, um...” The poor guy had been so busy basking in my wife’s smile that he hadn’t even noticed me.

“Hi Jason,” I said, actually feeling sorry for him.

I’d once had a crush on a neighbor lady, too. I think every boy goes through that and Sandy wasn’t going to torture him and neither would I, but it was still funny.

“I gave you enough money, right?” Sandy asked. “Come on, my laptop is upstairs. The delivery guys mounted the TV for me.”

“Huh? What’s wrong with your laptop?” I blinked at her. “What television? What’s he doing here? Sandy! What’s going on?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said, waving a hand as she led Jason towards the stairs. “It’s Get Out of Jail business.”

“What?” I almost laughed, wondering if I should follow the two of them upstairs.

There was nothing up there but the bedrooms, and after work I’d changed clothes in our Master bedroom, but I hadn’t seen a television. One of the other bedrooms had been arranged for guests. It had a twin bed and cheap furniture. It was comfortable and came in handy when Sandy’s mom would stop by for a visit, which wasn’t that often, thank God. The other bedroom had been converted into a storage room, basically. We still had boxes from college that hadn’t been unpacked. About the only time either of us went in there was when I wanted to use the weight set that I’d bought, and of course, hardly ever used. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

“This won’t take long, honey. Right, Jason?” Sandy smiled over her shoulder at him and the boy nearly fell back down the stairs. That might have been bad.

“Uh, no ... Uh-uh.” He shook his head and then changed his mind, nodding quickly. “It’ll be real, uh ... real easy. I do this stuff all the time.”

“Really?” The surprise on my wife’s face surprised me, but I didn’t get to find out why she’d react that way. What was the kid doing?

They disappeared at the top of the stairs and I sat there trying to restrain my curiosity. More than anything, I wanted to know what the hell was going on, but I also didn’t want to give my wife the satisfaction. See, I knew her game and it was all played in the mind. I did boring stuff with my cards, like buying a boat, but Sandy was a woman. She existed on a whole other plane of devious delight. She was just waiting for me to come upstairs and start demanding answers. As soon as I did, she would find some way to embarrass me in front of a pimply teenage boy that worshipped the ground she walked on.

No, I wasn’t playing that game. I unfolded my newspaper, crossed my legs, and sipped my wine. I was going to see if she had the patience to wait me out, because Sandy was terrible with anticipation. If she bought me a birthday present a week before the party, she might last three whole days before she just had to give it to me. The girl didn’t have any patience once she got excited, but I was calm, cool, and collected.

Ten minutes later, Sandy came down the stairs, alone. She’d been so quiet that she was at the bottom before I noticed, and I quickly sprang to my feet out of sheer surprise.

“Wow!” She stared at me. “Are you okay, John?”

“Huh? Yeah.” I nodded, feeling foolish as my face grew warm. “What, uh ... What’s going on? Where’s Jason? What were you guys working on up there?”