Chapter 2: In The Aftermath

I returned to work the next day and acted as if nothing was wrong. I told no one that Marci had left or that there was even a problem. That day I sat in my office with the door closed and tried to understand how any of this could have happened. I knew Marci better than anyone else in my life. She had always been honest to a fault and other than lying to me about the night she sucked that asshole, John Martin's cock in his car there was never any time that I ever suspected that she was lying to me. I am still sure that she lied only the one time. Marci is a kind, caring and generous person. She always had a kind word for anyone who needed one and was ready to help anyone who needed help. As a wife Marci was loving and supportive. She had always been there for me when I needed my spirits lifted or just needed encouragement. She was also my best friend.

Quite often friends would as me to stop after work for a drink but I seldom did because I would rather go home to Marci and she was always there when I got home. Marci's job was closer to home so she was able to do whatever shopping was needed and be home before me. So you see there was nothing in the last four years that would have prepared me for what I witnessed in my bedroom the night before.

That day I got nothing done and I slipped out of the office early and went home. I got my bottle of Marker's Mark from the liquor cabinet and sat down with the intention of drinking myself unconscious. As I felt the comfortable warmth of that wonderful Kentucky bourbon spread as I swallowed my first big gulp it occurred to me that I was at a cross road. I could continue on the path I was on, one of anger and self-pity, and probable ruin my health and my career or I could take a different path and deal with things as they come. I finished my drink and put the bottle away.

For the next two weeks I tried to keep my mind on my work. I was able to do this for maybe two hours at a time but something would always remind me of the pain I was in. For instance, I had been reviewing a customer proposal for a colleague and I wanted to write a note on the proposal for the author. I reached for the pen in my desk set and as I picked it up I remembered that the desk set was a gift from Marci for my last promotion. I sat back and let the memory of that day wash over me. When my boss told me that I was being promoted to senior account analyst and would get my own office I called Marci with the exciting news. She seemed excited too, until I said I wanted to go out and celebrate that night. Then Marci's tone changed, "We'll see."

On my way home that evening I was feeling a little deflated by Marci's response. When I walked into the house I was even more disappointed. Marci was in the kitchen putting dishes in the dishwasher and she was wearing an old beat up sweat suit. I asked her, "Aren't we going out to dinner?"

She said, "Why?"

"To celebrate my promotion. Did you forget about that already?" I responded with a little anger starting to show.

She turned to walk toward the refrigerator and said, "Oh, that. I thought we celebrate that at home with..." she opened the refrigerator and pulled out two of the biggest lobsters I have ever seen. "these. Is that okay? Why don't you go sit and I'll fix you a drink, and then I'll get dinner started? When Marci brought me the drink she handed me a beautifully wrapped gift box. When I opened the box it contained a gold Cross pen and pencil desk set. As I looked at the gift Marci said, "That should look nice on your new desk."

I said, "Thanks Hon. When I talked to you on the phone I got the impression that you didn't think my promotion was any big deal."

"Well, as soon as you told me about the promotion I started thinking of how to celebrate. I quickly decide to cook you a nice dinner and get you a nice gift but I wanted it to be a surprise so I acted like I didn't care..." Marci came over to my chair and bent over taking my face in her hands and kissed me on the mouth. "I am so proud of you." Then Marci went back into the kitchen.

When Marci called me for dinner she told me we were going to eat in the dinning room instead of the kitchen. So I asked her as I look at her old sweat suit, "Aren't you a little underdressed for dinner in the dinning room. Aren't going to get dressed for dinner?"

Marci said, "No. Actually I was thinking of getting undressed for dinner." Then she removed her sweats. Marci was now standing in front of my wearing just a black bra and panty set with black thigh high stockings. I got an erection almost immediately.

I reached for her but she backed away and waved her finger at me and said, "No touching me until you eat your dinner."

After dinner I went over to Marci and stood behind her chair. I leaned over the back of her chair and kissed her on the neck and thanked her for a wonderful meal. Then I cupped her black satin covered breasts in my hands and brought my face close to hers and she turned to face me and we kissed. Then the passion took over. As I stood next to her chair Marci opened my pants and pulled my cock out. I was already erect and Marci commented, "I see Mr. Happy is ready." Then she ran her tongue over the head and slowly took me into her mouth.

As I sat in my office and remembered this I started to rub my growing erection.

Marci bobbed her head up and down on my cock for a few minutes then she stopped and asked, "Does this feel good?"

When I responded in the affirmative Marci said, "Why don't we go up to bed now so we can take care of each other." Then suddenly my beautiful memory was shattered and replaced with the image of Marci on the floor with John Martin's cock in her hand and hearing Marci say, "I want you to suck on my cunt. I want you to make me cum."

That's the way things went for a while. So many things would remind me of Marci. Something in my office or something I would hear some one say would remind me of her and what ever fond memory it would recall would quickly be replaced by the sights and sounds of the night I watched her acting the willing slut with that creep.

At the end of that first two weeks my boss called me into his office. I was half expecting him to give me a negative review of my recent work performance but instead he asked me to attend a weeklong seminar in Rolling Meadows, Illinois the following week. I was glad to go. It would get me out of town and maybe give me something other than Marci to think about.

On Sunday evening I checked into the Marriott Hotel and settled into my room. I spent the evening reading the class agenda and session descriptions then I watched a movie on HBO and went to bed at 10:30 PM. Monday was a good day for me. There were several people in the class that I knew from other classes or business meetings. The seminar was interesting and I was able to concentrated on the presentations and keep my mind from wandering back to Marci. That evening I went out for dinner and drinks with some of my classmates then went back to the hotel to sleep. Tuesday had gone pretty much as Monday had until I got back to the hotel after dinner.

As I sat at the desk in my room trying to read my e-mail I kept thinking about Marci. "How could she have done this to us?" I had to do something so I decided to call her. I opened my brief case and got my address book to get Marci's sister's phone number. As I set the address book down and picked up the phone to dial a business card fell out of my address book and dropped to the floor. As I picked the card up off the floor I noticed the Schaumburg, Illinois address. I looked at the care then dropped it into my brief case and dialed the phone.

As I heard the phone ring for the third time I felt butterflies in my stomach. I wasn't sure what I was going to say if she answered the phone. I had almost decided to hang up when I heard her voice, "Hello."

"Hi. Is this Janice Martin?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is Ben Rogers." There was silence on the other end of the line. "I am sorry to be calling like this but I was hoping we could talk." Still not a sound on the other end. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the way I dropped that bomb on you. I was just so upset and angry that I never thought about how this would effect you." I listened carefully to try and determine if she was still on the phone. She was, I could hear her unsteady breathing. I continued, "I was hoping that maybe we could meet somewhere and talk about what happened."

Janice asked, "Are you calling from work?"

I thought the question strange but answered, "No. I am in Rolling Meadows."

This time when I stopped I heard a man's voice in the back ground, "Who's on the phone?"

Then I heard Janice say, "It's Debra form work. She wants me to have dinner with her tomorrow night."

Then to me Janice said, "Where did you want to go for dinner?"

I said, "I am staying at the Marriott." and before I could finish Janice said, That would be fine. I'll meet you there. So tomorrow night, seven o'clock at the Outback."

I asked, "You'll meet me at the Marriott?"

"Yes the Outback is fine. I'll see you at seven. Good night."

After I put the phone down I figured that it must have been John I heard in the background. It angered me that he was still with his wife. I would have hoped that she would have thrown him out. That was something I would have to ask her about the next night.

Wednesday evening at seven o'clock I was waiting in the lobby of the Marriott watching for Janice Martin. This wasn't an easy task as there were many women walking around the lobby and trying to figure out which one was Janice looked like it was going to be a daunting task. Then I saw her. I knew it had to be her immediately by the way she came into the hotel. I could see that she was nervous and that she was obviously looking for someone. I took a moment to admire her from a distance. She was a very attractive blonde. She was wearing a pair of black slacks that showed of her bottom very nicely and a white blouse with one gold chain around her neck.

I approached her and said, "Mrs. Martin?"

"Yes, and you are Ben?"

I said that I was and offered my hand. She placed her small delicate hand in mine and said, "I am not sure if it would be appropriate to say that I am glad to meet you. So I'll wait till after our meeting to decide if I am glad or not."

I said, "That's fair. Thank you for coming." I let go of her hand and asked her if the hotel restaurant would be okay for dinner and Janice said that it would be fine. We didn't say anything more until the waitress brought us our drinks. Then I said, "I presumed from what I heard on the phone that you and John are still together."

Janice looked at her hands that were wrapped around her wine glass and said, "Yes, we are still together and whether we stay together depends on you."

I asked what she meant and Janice said, "Let me explain this as best I can. That night when you called I was very upset. I didn't want to believe what you told me. After I hung up the phone I realized that I only had the word of some stranger on the phone that John had cheated on me. I should have asked you to let me talk to him but I hung up on you instead. After that I tried to call John at his hotel and got no answer. Of course that didn't prove anything. I had to wait until I could talk to John. I decided to wait till John called me to ask him what was going on but he came home instead. He got home at ten o'clock the next morning and said that he had finished his business early and caught an early flight. I asked him what had gone on the night before and John just stared at me and said that he had no idea what I was talking about. So I told him about your phone call and he denied everything. He said that he'd never heard of you and this must have been some sick person's idea of a joke. I wanted to believe him but it was difficult. Although I have never caught him cheating on my I have suspected that he has had flings on various business trips but I managed to convince myself that unless I had solid evidence that John was cheating I would assume he wasn't. That allowed me to not have to do anything about it.

"Then a few days ago John and I were at a cocktail party and one of his friends came over to John and said, 'Boy was the boss pissed that you didn't stay in Baltimore till the end of that meeting a couple of weeks ago.' I knew then that John had lied about why he came home early. But I still didn't have enough proof. So here I am, nearly convinced that my husband cheated on me. Now I am counting on you to tell me the truth about what happened."

At that moment our meals arrived. I waited till the waiter had left and then I told Janice everything from the incident four and a half years ago and then about the phone call I over heard and how I told Marci I would be out of town and then waited in my car until John showed up. And how I snuck into the house and watched the two of them having sex. I even told her how I burst in on them just as John started to climax.

When I had finished I saw a tear running down Janice's cheek. She wiped it away and said, "I believe you. No one would make up a story like that as a joke. You said it was four and a half years ago when he took Marci for that ride. Well four and a half years ago John and I were engaged. So apparently he was cheating on me even before we got married. I am so sorry this happened to you. If I had been less naive I might have been able to keep all of this from happening."

I took Janice's hand in mine and said, "This isn't your fault and it isn't mine. John had the option of not cheating on you and Marci had the option of turning John down on both occasions. We didn't do anything wrong."

Janice looked into my face and when I looked at her beautiful blue eyes filled with tears I wondered how that asshole could have cheated on this lovely woman. Then Janice squeezed my hand and attempted a smile and said, "Shall we go up to your room now? I don't know what good it will do but I would like to get some amount of revenge."

I called the waiter over and settled the bill and took Janice up to my room.

In the room Janice came into my arms and said, "I'll do anything you want but please be gentle."

I kissed her on the end of the nose and Janice said, "Correction, you can do anything but that. Don't touch me nose. I don't like that." She wasn't angry but I could tell she meant what she said as she rubbed the back of her hand across her nose.

I took her face in my hands and brought my lips to hers and let my tongue brush across her lips as we kissed. On the second kiss our tongues met. Having this beautiful woman so close to me had me erect in no time at all and it took all of my self control to continue to move slowly. I wanted to tear her blouse off but I open the buttons slowly as I continued to kiss her. Once I had her blouse off I removed her bra and I cupped her breasts and bent to kiss then. Janice ran her fingers through my hair as I sucked on her nipples. After I spent several minutes loving her breasts, Janice lifted my head and kissed me. Then she began removing my shirt. When she had my shirt off she kissed my nipples and began to open my pants. When she had my pants opened, Janice pulled them down my legs and helped me step out of them. Janice then got on her knees and pulled my jockey shorts off. She took my cock in her hand and pushed it up against my stomach then she leaned in and began to run her tongue over my sack and then sucked as much of it into her mouth as she could. The feeling of having my sack in her warm mouth was wonderful. So good in fact that I was worried that I might lose control and then Janice ran her tongue up the underside of my shaft and when she reached the top she took my engorged member into her mouth and began sliding it in and out of her mouth. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the sensations. Janice brought me close to climax then she removed my cock from her mouth and stood up. I kissed her and lead her to the bed where I removed her slacks. I sat her on the edge of the bed and lifted her legs over my shoulders and put my head between her legs. I pulled the gusset of her panties aside and inserted my tongue into Janice's hot honey pot and licked and sucked on her until she had an orgasm.

After that she said, " I want you inside me. I want you to climax inside me and put your seed as deeply inside me as you can."

Not wanting to disappoint her I pulled her panties off and got on the bed and moved on top of Janice. I guided my cock to her wet opening and pushed myself inside. When I had my shaft all of the way in, Janice wrapped her arms and legs around me and held me in place. The way she was holding me I could only take short strokes but I was enjoying the feeling anyway. As I started getting close to my orgasm Janice began to move her hips making my strokes longer and harder and then all at once we both climaxed together. When it was over we both collapsed on the bed.

We held each other for another half hour then Janice said that she had better get going. I watched as she got out of bed and started dressing. She put on her bra and blouse then she picked up her panties and looked at them. Then she threw the panties to me and said, "Here. Take these to remember me by. When I get home I am going to undress in front of John and when he asks me where my panties are I am going to tell him."

I asked, "Are you sure you want to do that?'

She said, "Absolutely! I want him to feel a little of what I have felt every time I suspected that he cheated on me. Then I will tell him to leave."

When she had her pants on and was ready to leave Janice came over to the bed and kissed me. Then she said, "Until a new man comes into my life, if you need me I am here for you. You can come see me or I'll come see you. What ever works out best. Then she kissed me again and left.

After Janice left I began to feel guilty but I wasn't sure why. Was it because I cheated on Marci? Even thought Marci and I weren't together we were still married. Or was I feeling guilty because I took advantage of Janice. Maybe if I had left her out of this she could have gone on with her life not knowing that her husband was cheating on her. Now that she knew for sure she would have to face up to it and do something about it.

I made it through the next two days of class and on Friday evening was packing to got home Saturday morning when I decided to call Janice to see how she was doing. I was a little afraid that John would answer the phone but he didn't. Janice answered the phone and I said, "Hi, it's Ben."

Janice asked if I was all right and I told her that I called to ask her that same question.

Janice said, "I'm fine. John is gone and I don't feel as bad about that as I thought I would. I actually feel like a weight has been lifted from me."

"Where did he go?"

"He said he was going to his friends apartment in Chicago but I found out later that the apartment is actually his. Nights when he said he had to work late he took his girl friends there."

I asked her how she found that out and Janice said, "One of his old girl friends told me. As soon as she heard that I had asked him to leave she called me and told me about the apartment and told me who some of his other girl friends were."

All I could manage was, "Wow!" Then I asked, "What happened Wednesday night when you got home?"

Janice said, "It was really something. When I got home John was in the bedroom watching television. When I came in he asked me how my dinner with Debra was and I said, 'I didn't have dinner with Debra.' As I said that I was taking my blouse off. Then John said 'I thought you said you were having dinner with Debra. Who did you go to dinner with?'

"Before I answered I removed my slacks. The look on his face when I saw I wasn't wearing panties was beautiful. He couldn't even speak for a minute then he finally managed to ask me where my panties were. I said, 'I gave them to Ben as a souvenir of or evening together.'

"John jumped off the bed and asked, 'Ben Who?' and I said, 'Ben who do you think? Ben and I had dinner and talked about you and Marci and then I went up to his room and we had sex. What do you think of that?' I thought he was going to go ballistic. He grabbed me and threw me on the bed and said, 'You're lying. Your just making that up do make me jealous.'

"So I spread my legs and said, 'See for yourself.' He looked at me down there and saw that it was obvious that I had had sex. He started shouting and calling me names and I just waited for him to calm down. Then I told him he had no right to call me names after his behavior and that I thought it would be best if he moved out of the house. What surprised me the most is that he didn't say another word. He just packed his bags and left. The next day he sent me an e-mail to tell me where he was staying."

I said, "Weren't you afraid that he might hurt you?"

Janice said, "No. I figured if he hit me I would call the police on him and have him arrested."

"Well, I'm sorry that all this happened."

"Don't be. I'm not. I would have thought that I would be devastated if John ever left me but instead I feel free."

I said, "I have to leave in the morning. I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me tonight. This time for us."

Janice said, "Sure. Where?"

"How about the Outback?" I said.

Janice laughed. It was the first time I had heard her laugh. "The Outback would be fine."

I asked, "Should I pick you up at home or meet you at the restaurant. Either way I need directions."

I picked Janice up at her house and we went to dinner. After dinner we went back to her house and we sat and talked about ourselves for an hour or so and then we made love. This time not for revenge but for our mutual enjoyment and nothing more. When I left her house that night I think we both knew that we weren't in love and probably never would be, but we were friends and that was enough for me.

When I got back home on Saturday I checked the messages on the answering machine and there were several messages from Marci. "Ben I need to talk to you. Please call me," "Ben, where are you, we need to talk," etc. Each time she left her sister's phone number. I erased the messages and fixed myself a drink. As I was drinking and reading the newspaper the phone rang. I almost answered it but then chose to let the answering machine pick up the call. It was Marci again. She said, "Ben I have been calling all week. I left several messages at your office and here. Why aren't you returning my calls? I know you are very angry with me, but please let me talk to you."

As soon as she hung up I erased the message. I spent the rest of the day taking care the things that had accumulated over the last week. Then I went to bed early. I couldn't sleep. I started thinking about Marci again. I was beginning to understand my problem now. In spite of what she had done to me, part of me still loved her. I would start to think that I should take here back then I would see the image of her in bed with that piece of shit Martin and I would feel sick. I debated with myself all night about whether I should give Marci another chance and whether I could ever forget what she did. In the morning I knew that I was going to have to see Marci and decided what to do based on how I felt afterward.

Sunday afternoon I called Marci's sister and told her I would be home that evening if Marci wanted to come by and talk to me.

Marci showed up around seven o'clock. She didn't look well. She looked like she had lost weight and like she hadn't been sleeping well. Somehow that pleased me. I asked her how she was and she said, "Not very well. I miss you. I want things to be the way they were before."

I said, "Things can be the way the were before just as soon as you can explain to me why I shouldn't care about what you did."

"I wish I could do that but I can't. I don't know why that happened. I never would have believed that I would do that and I am sure I would never do anything like that again."

"Even if I wanted to believe that it would it would be difficult. Have you forgotten that you lied about that little blow job you gave shit for brains in his car a few years ago. You swore to me that you did nothing wrong that night. Turns out that was either a lie or you don't think sucking another guys cock is wrong? "

"It was wrong, I know. I tried to explained about that in my note."

"Oh yeah, I remember that, you said that you sucked the asshole's cock so that you wouldn't have to fuck him. That made a hell of a lot more sense than just telling that dip shit you weren't going to have sex with him because you were in love with someone else, or telling the fuck face to take a hike when he asked you to go for a ride with him in the first place."

"Why do you have to keep calling John names? This wasn't his fault it was mine."

"Oh right. You want to take all the credit for this? Do you know what kind of person we're talking about here? Do you really know Mr. John Martin? Let me tell you a little about him. That night when you were sucking Mr. Nice Guy's cock in his car, when he shot his load in your mouth, did he happen to mention that he was engaged at the time?"

Marci was looking at her hands as I was talking and I could tell that the words I was using were having the desired effect. I could see the shame in her face. But when I said that the asshole was engaged Marci looked up in surprise. "He was engaged?" She looked horrified.

I said the fact that he was engaged bothers you more than then fact that you swallowed his load and lied to me about the whole thing?"

"No. I fell terrible about what I did to you, it just that now I find out we were hurting someone else too."

"Let me tell you something else about Mr. Wonderful. That night at our house before you told him, and I quote, 'I want you to suck on my cunt. I want you to make me cum' did he mention that he cheated on his wife so frequently that he had his own apartment in Chicago so he could fuck any little whore he wanted without his wife finding out. Why would a man intentionally go after another man's wife? It's not love. This guy claimed to love his wife and with the number of women he was fucking you couldn't have meant any more to him than another notch on his belt. But you didn't see through that. You thought that there was something special between the two of you that was more important than your marriage. And I don't know if I could ever learn to deal with that."

"Why do you have to repeat those awful things I said? I feel bad enough as it is."

"No you don't. Until you feel worse than me you won't feel bad enough. I say these things because I keep hearing them over and over in my head."

Marci asked, "So where do we go from here? Are you going to ask for a divorce? I guess I can't blame you if you do."

I said, "I don't know yet. Half of my brain is screaming at me to throw you out of the house right now and be done with you forever, but the other half is tell me to go slowly and don't do anything I'll regret later. For now I won't do anything."

"Are you saying there might be a chance for us to get back together?"

"I said I don't know. I have to think about it some more."

"If there's a chance I will do anything to make it work."

I said, "There is something else you should know. I was in Chicago last week and I got together with Janice Martin. We ended up in bed together. I guess you could call it revenge sex. I was with her again Friday night only that time it wasn't for revenge."

I could see that this news made an impact on Marci. She was looking at her hands again but I saw the tears drip from her eyes. Then without looking up, Marci said, "Are you in love with her?'

I said, "Of course not. It was just sex and it was great."

Again without looking up, "I guess I deserved that. I better go now. Please call me and let me know what you're thinking. Just tell me what you want me to do. What ever you want I'll do it." Marci got up and came over and tried to kiss me on the cheek, but I pulled away. Then she turned and left.

I managed to get through the first part of the next week without thinking about Marci very often. Then on Thursday afternoon as I was returning from lunch I saw a blue 1993 Camaro in the parking lot at work. It was nearly identical to my first car. I had bought it new when I got out of the army in May of 1993. It was two months later that I met Marci. I started remembering the first time we went parking together in that car. It was only our second date. I had parked in a wooded area overlooking the bay and we sat in the car listening to the radio. I put my arm around her and pulled Marci to me and kissed her. As our necking got more passionate I began to massage her breasts through her blouse. This seemed to get Marci really hot but she wouldn't let me get my hand inside her blouse. We made out for about an hour then I took Marci home. As soon as I got home I had to run into the bathroom and jerk myself off. It wasn't till about our fifth date that Marci let me get my hand inside her blouse. Her bare breasts felt so good in my hand and I loved the way her nipples felt on my lips as I sucked on them. I wasn't sure who was enjoying the sensations more, Marci or I. When I sucked on her nipples Marci would throw her head back and pull my face tighter against her chest. Her breathing would get erratic and I thought that she was near orgasm. When I put my hand on her thigh and started to move it up under her skirt, Marci squeezed her legs together and told me to stop. She said she couldn't do that. She told me then that she didn't want to have sex until she was married. Marci told me that her older sister had gotten pregnant in high school and she wanted to be sure that she didn't get pregnant before she got married. I decided to be patient with her because I felt she was worth it. So our sexual activity in the car didn't progress beyond my sucking on her breasts until after I finally had sex with her in her apartment a few months later.