Chapter 5

Peggy Whitley was mildly irritated that Kyle wasn't at the airport to meet her when her flight came in from Orlando. When she thought about it riding home in the taxi though, she decided it was probably all for the better. Odd moments from the week just past kept coming back to her and she couldn't help but smile with remembered pleasure. It was best that Kyle not see those smiles. He would be suspicious.

Peggy was at peace with herself for the first time in... goodness... something like a year and a half. Ever since she'd heard from her Kyle and Ann about their encounter at that party, she'd needed to get even with her husband. She had briefly considered getting some revenge on Ann, but she hadn't been able to figure out a way to do that yet. Peggy hadn't discarded the idea; it was on the back burner awaiting an opportunity. But she'd finally gotten her revenge on Kyle. Whooeeee! Did she ever!

Peggy grinned to herself. Oooops. She wasn't grinning just to herself. The taxi driver was smiling back at her. Okay, lesson learned. Peggy knew she was going to have to watch herself more closely. It was going to be more difficult than she thought to keep this wonderful little ball of happy satisfaction bundled up inside her. It was best she find out how easy it was to let something slip now so she'd know and could correct her behavior.

She'd gotten him. She'd gotten Kyle... real... good. She reveled in that knowledge. It had taken so very long, but now it was done. Kyle had had sex outside the marriage. Now Peggy had too.

A disquieting thought came to her. Something inside her wondered how a week of sexual abandon equaled to a few seconds of illicit oral sex enjoyed by her husband. That was probably just an echo though... perhaps of something her husband had badgered her with for all those months? No, she wouldn't give in to that. She was secure in the knowledge she'd gotten even and... okay... she'd also collected a little interest on the debt in the process. So what? She was entitled. It had been a long time coming. The anxiety settled, she was happy again.

Peggy had been smart about what she was going to do this time. She hadn't made any plans that anyone could possibly know about. Harold, the man she'd met in Orlando, worked there in his company's regional center and contact with him had been something she would have done naturally in the course of arranging the training. They'd only met a few times while conducting their portions of the business relationships between their two firms. All but one of those had been before the trouble with Ann and Kyle even happened. She'd called him from a pay phone just a couple of times after the training had been scheduled... just often enough to give Harold a hint she wanted to get together with him when she came down.

She thought calling Harold from the plane was a masterful stroke. It had worked. Harold arrived at the airport practically panting with eagerness. The cost of the call, of course, was charged to the credit card Kyle didn't know about. She'd arranged for that after he'd told her so hatefully that he would see any charges she made to the couple's credit cards. She smiled to herself again. Face it. She was good! She had everything covered this time. She almost laughed out loud. Damn, she was really going to have to watch it.

It had felt so wonderful. Harold wasn't much of a lover, not nearly as good as Kyle in fact, and he didn't have Kyle's stamina... but that was okay. It had been soooo excitingly nasty just taking his dick in her mouth and making him cum. She hadn't done that with Kyle since... well, she didn't need to think of that anymore. The accounts were balanced on that little thing now. She could enjoy Kyle's cock in her mouth again.

Naughty. God, she'd felt so naughty all week long. Her blood had raced in her veins. She hadn't felt so alert and bright... so alive in years. Goodness, there were so many times in the last week she would treasure... such as the excitement she'd felt all day long in the seminars, watching the men and women around her and wondering how many were enjoying a little secret sex like she was.

Just seeing Harold every so often during the day was a little added spice. There was the thrill of tossing him kisses across the room when no one was looking and the anticipation of not-so-casual touches when they met for lunch. She giggled at the memory of the astonished, delighted look in his eyes in the nightclub when he saw she hadn't worn any panties. Those were wonderful little memories she could hold to herself and enjoy when she was alone.

All that was in addition to some moderately satisfactory sex back in her hotel room too. She let a small gurgle of laughter escape her lips. The driver smiled at her again. Peggy grinned back this time.

She remembered Thursday night. Mmmmmmm... Thursday night was a special memory. Harold had coaxed her out on the balcony and both of them had been naked as the day they were born. It had made her feel deliciously wicked. Harold had bent her over the railing, her tits dangling off into space while he fucked her from behind. She'd gotten off really hard that time. It had been one of the few times Harold actually made her orgasm with fireworks and bombshells and stuff. Kyle usually managed that once or twice every time they had sex. Harold had a problem with patience... yeah, that and stamina.

She regretted Harold hadn't been better in bed. She thought now she could have made a better choice of the instrument for her revenge. There was that guy in the same training seminar as she, for instance. He'd been from Arizona... Randy! That was his name, Randy. Now there was a man. He'd looked just scrumptious in his tailored business suit. She wondered what Randy would have looked like standing naked beside her bed. She wondered how big he was. That bulge in his pants when that Terri woman had smiled up at him in the first night's smoker... that had been something to see.

Suddenly Peggy knew this wasn't going to be the last time for her. She examined the idea for a moment. Kyle would never know--she'd see to that--and if he didn't know, it wouldn't hurt him. How could it? She thought about it for a while longer.

She'd be very, very careful. She would never make intricate plans to get together with a man. It would always have to be someone like Randy... someone she met by accident out and away from home. Yeah, that was the way to go--random encounters--at places where Kyle would never, ever be. He never suspect anything either, because he'd never see any signs of cheating that would give her away. She'd never have a long-term affair, she decided. They were too entangling, too complicated, and she didn't need to be involved with another man. Kyle was plenty, more than enough.

Peggy moved her lower body around in a tiny circle on the hot seat in the backseat of the taxi. It felt good. Some of the friction transferred to her pussy's outer lips. She did it again. It felt even better. It was another thing she shouldn't be doing. The driver might see her and know what she was doing. It was so naughty. She loved it.

Suddenly she wondered when her next trip out of town would be. She wondered who she would meet... who she would find there to... play with. Yeah, that's what she would call it--how she'd think of it. It was playing. It wasn't serious. She wondered what the man would look like, what he would smell like, how he would taste...

Her cell phone rang.

"Hello," she said cheerfully.

"Mrs. Whitely? This is Sam Macmillan"

"Hi, Sam, how're you today?" Peggy didn't like her boss, but she could put up with him today.

"Pretty good," Mr. Macmillan answered. He didn't ask how she was doing. "I'm going to get right to the point, Mrs. Whitely," he said. There was amusement in his voice... only a trace, but it was there. She could hear it.

"Okay," Peggy replied wonderingly.

"Yes, well... here it is, Mrs. Whitely," he said. "I've been asked to tell you that your employment with Bruckmeister and Son is being terminated for cause. Mr. Bruckmeister Junior wants me to inform you that you will be allowed to come into the business offices Monday morning to collect your severance check and clear out your desk anytime between the hours of 9:00 and 12:00 noon. Mr. Bruckmeister also said to tell you any questions you have would be answered at that time."

Thunderstruck, Peggy let a long silence build. The taxi driver watched the stricken expression spread over Peggy's attractive face. The woman's manner had changed so abruptly the driver kept a close watch for a while. He'd had several bad experiences with people whose attitude changed so abruptly in his back seat. Then he had a feeling he wasn't going to get a good tip from this fare. Glumly, he returned his attention to the street ahead.

"I... I don't understand," Peggy finally choked out. "Why... ?" That was all that came into her mind.

"I don't know, Mrs. Whitely," Mr. Macmillan said.

There was a ring of truth in his tone. He probably didn't know, Peggy decided, but he wasn't a bit upset about losing her from his section. She let her hand drop away from her mouth while she took a deep breath. When she was ready, she brought the phone back up.

"All right," she told her ex-supervisor. "I'll just have to wait until Monday then. Thank you for calling," she said. She touched the button to break the connection without waiting for his reply. She had that tiny satisfaction, that final bit of control over him.

Kyle's big pickup wasn't in the driveway when the taxi drew up at the curb. Peggy was irritated. Her husband should be here. He was her only solace now. He wouldn't care why she'd been discharged. He would comfort her and love her.

When she walked in the front door, she immediately knew something else was wrong with her day. The grandfather's clock that had stood against the long wall in the foyer since they'd bought the house was gone. The umbrella stand in the corner was missing too. When she walked into the living room, it was empty save for a few scraps of brown wrapping paper scattered here and there. The house was silent. A chill worked its way down her spine. The house felt abandoned... empty.

Her cell phone rang again. She looked at the display. It was Kyle.

"Kyle!" she said sharply. "Where are you? Where's all the furniture? What's going on, damn it?" Her voice rose the longer she spoke. She was angry, hurt... and a little scared. She didn't understand what was happening.

"I won't tell you where I am, Peggy," Kyle said calmly. He sounded tired, almost too fatigued to speak.

He was, in fact, laboring under a tremendous sense of weariness. It was partly physical. Getting a house full of furniture and personal possessions packed and loaded into a big U-Haul truck had been exhausting. Dealing with telling the kids had been accomplished surprisingly easy, but his own internal turmoil had been emotionally draining. He had been dreading this conversation, but he had it to do.

He'd hardly slept since Brad brought him the early pictures of Peggy's escapades the first night of her stay in Orlando. He hadn't been able to even close his eyes after viewing the DVD of her energetic fucking on the balcony. That had come in Friday, yesterday, morning. Brad's private investigator had access to a laptop that converted a digital camcorder's raw input into DVD-quality movies. The investigator had dumped the videos and a multitude of still photos into Brad's office server via a broadband connection. It was all in Kyle's briefcase now, locked away so Peggy's children wouldn't see it by accident.

Kyle and the kids had already been packed. The first pictures and video had been more than enough for Kyle. Thursday night's romp had just provided him and Brad with evidence that could be used in court. The night vision feature on the camcorder had captured the adulterous pair in a setting where they had no right to expect privacy. The other pictures and movies couldn't be used in any legal action since Peggy and Harold had been in Peggy's room. He had other uses for those photos and movies though.

When another of Brad's investigators had called to let him know Peggy had arrived at home, he simply dialed her cell number. He hadn't waited for procrastination to set in. He needed to get this over with. Maybe he could sleep tonight if he got everything off his chest.

"What? Why can't you tell me where you are?" Peggy demanded.

"I didn't say I couldn't, Peg," Kyle said patiently. "I said I wouldn't."

"Kyle Whitely... I don't know what you think you're doing... but you better start telling me what's going on or I'm going to..."

"Going to what, Peggy?" Kyle asked sharply. "Haven't you got it yet? I told you... I've told you over and over if you fucked another man to get even with me because of that bullshit idea that I cheated on you... I told you I'd leave you Peggy. I told you, and I've done it."

Peggy was stunned. In an afternoon of surprises, this was the most catastrophic.

"Kyle..." she replied in a broken voice. "Honey, I haven't..."

"Save it, Peggy," Kyle said brusquely. "You can see why I've left. What more is there to say?"

"What? See what? I don't know what you're talking about," Peggy protested. She was confused.

"Have you been in the den?" Kyle asked.

"No."

"Go there," Kyle ordered. Resentfully, Peggy walked down the short corridor to the back of the house and into the extra bedroom they'd converted into a study. When she got there, she understood.

A huge, blown up photograph was propped up on the mantle over the fireplace. It had a greenish tinge to it, the colors were all washed out, but it clearly showed her and Harold out on the hotel balcony. They were naked, rutting like animals while she howled her ecstasy to the moon.

Peggy sank to the floor. Her legs wouldn't support her any longer. She sat there, her legs tucked under her. The picture mesmerized her... it held her as completely enthralled as a rattlesnake about to strike would have. Something deep inside her told her the photo represented the end of everything.

"Kyle," she said thickly. Her mouth wasn't working right.

"Don't bother, Peggy," Kyle said. "Now you see? Now you know why the house is empty. Now you know why the kids and I aren't there, don't you?"

"Where are my babies?" she demanded. "You can't take my babies away from me," she screamed. Kyle heard the nearly hysterical tone in her voice.

"Calm down, Peggy," he advised. "I already have taken them away from you... though it would be more correct to say you took them away from yourself. It's already happened. You're going to have to live with it, so get a grip on yourself and I'll tell you how things are going to be." He'd mentioned the kids, expecting to get this reaction from his soon-to-be ex-wife, so he could tell her what he had to say next.

"Mandy and Todd are fine, Peggy," he told her. "Actually, they're in better shape than I am," he admitted. "They didn't have too much trouble accepting the fact that they were going to live with me and that you weren't going to be there anymore. You've done such a fine job of pushing them away for the past year that they weren't troubled by the thought of not seeing you, Peggy. You didn't see it coming, but I did."

"NO!" Peggy wailed. "You can't do that."

"I already did," Kyle said simply. "You already did," he added. "Now settle down and listen to what I'm going to tell you." He waited for a long moment.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Don't I have anything to say about this?" Peggy said in a hurt tone.

"No, you don't," Kyle replied. "For the first time in your life Peggy, all you can do is deal with the consequences of what you've done... what you've done to yourself, to your husband and children, and to your marriage." Kyle took a deep breath.

"It's too bad, Peggy," he said softly. "If you hadn't been so obsessed with getting even with me, we could have worked out almost anything. I was sure as hell willing. But you wouldn't have this any other way. You just had to have your revenge... and for what?

"Ann took my penis in her mouth on a dark night with most of my body hidden by their deck railing. She thought it was her husband's. When she discovered different, she spit me out faster than I can say it.