Chapter 2

Initially, after our making up and deciding to try again, I had thought to just let the matter drop. I thought that best for all of us, Me, Annie, and Ellie. But then I heard something. Clyde Barrow, was a frequenter of The Forecastle, the same bar I sometimes patronized. He'd been bragging that he had been successful with several women and that all of them were begging him to not to abandon them to their wimp-assed husbands.

"Harm, you know that prick Barrow right?" said Elton, my favorite bartender.

This was some three weeks after Ellie had confessed. So, hearing the asshole's name made me a shudder. "Yeah, I know him, vaguely. He works at Champ's Auto Parts. I used to buy stuff there for my old pickup. Why do you ask?"

"He's been braggin' around here. Said he nailed your wife, among others. Just thought you oughta know he's messin' with Ellie's reputation, Harm," said Elton.

I was pissed. I had not intended to sink the asshole's ship, but that was then and this was now. The look on my face brought a reciprocal look from my friend. "Thanks, Elton, I'll take care of the bastard!"

That was Saturday. Ellie had had to work that day in EMR; they'd been shorthanded. When she got home it was around 5:00PM. I called her into the kitchen.

"Ellie, have you seen Barrow in the past few weeks? I mean since we had our little meeting?" I said.

"No, Harm. I never want to see or speak to that shithead again ever," she said.

I believed her. "He's spreading rumors about you. Bragging that he nailed you," I said.

"Oh my gawd!" said Ellie.

"We're going after him. I want to ruin him," I said.

"But, Harm, that'll mean..."

"Yes, it'll be out in the open, but he's seeing to it that it is anyway. The bartender told me about it today," I said.

"Do you know his wife's name?" I said.

"Yes. It's Catherine," said Ellie.

"Do you know how to get hold of her without my having to do the research?" I said.

"Their phone number is listed," she said.

"Good," I said. "Call her and ask her to come here. Don't tell her what for. But, when she gets here, you're going to tell her everything. There's no getting around it Ellie. I want his ship sunk and fast and deep."

"Harm, I'm scared..."

"No need to be. He's doing you and all of us wrong and we're going to put a stop to it."

Before, earlier on, I had thought to kill the bastard, but then I thought, making a big stink about it, while more than satisfying, would only hurt us more than we already had been. But, now I realize that I had made a mistake in not tearing his ass up in the first place.

"Harm, what if she doesn't believe me" said Ellie.

"She will. Three different high school girls saw you with him; she'll believe you. The asshole is dead meat."

Catherine Barrow cried her eyes out on our sofa. She never went home that night; she stayed with us. The next day she went to her lawyer's and got the ball rolling.

Clyde was served with papers at his work and with a restraining order that same day; and then Catherine went home. Some weeks later, word was that she had taken the miserable shit to the cleaners. I breathed easier; I had been thinking of ruder ways to deal with him, but the results we had achieved seemed to me to have done the job. Not everything could be handled best with a baseball bat.

Destroying Clyde Barrow was satisfying if embarrassing for Ellie in some quarters; but, I thought, hell, it was the end of a miserable chapter in our lives. And it was, but it was also the calm before the storm.

For almost a year, after our "forgive and try again" conversation and the destruction of Clyde Barrow, things had been tentative between me and Ellie. But, I was beginning to relax. Things were almost back to normal. Annie, if I'd had to guess, was less trusting than I—no that's not right; perhaps more vigilant, and that because she loved her mother. She loved her mother, but she was afraid she might fall back into her old ways. Bottom line, she didn't really trust her, not yet. I, on the other hand, was pretty sure Ellie would not go back to her old ways. And, because of my confidence, I was less vigilant: this proved to be a huge mistake.

Each end of school year there was a parent appreciation day for parents of the year's P.E students. There were contests between sons and dads, moms and daughters, and kids against faculty all orchestrated by the P.E. department and as many volunteers as they could muster.

In past years these events had always been held at this or that hotel. But this year, due to funding constraints, it was going to be held at the school, in the gymnasium, on Saturday the 22nd, a week hence. Ellie, who still put in volunteer time as a nurse had signed on to help out with the decorating committee. This put her in daily contact with the chair of the P.E. department, Marco Phillips.

Marco Phillips was the man in charge of the gym and all its sound equipment and sports gear; hence, he was always around always helpful—too helpful.

Marco, A big man, maybe six-five and two-sixty, was supposedly a lady's man. This in spite of the fact that he was married with children, two girls and a boy, all school age. I knew him well and liked him not at all; I never liked braggarts, and he was a biggee in that respect.

He had his office in the gym between the two classrooms at the back of the building. The classrooms were for the Health Science courses that all students were required to take for graduation; these were run by the P.E. instructors. Marco Phillips ruled this domain with an iron hand. It was said, only half in jest, that the boys weren't even allowed to pee in the urinals because they would get them dirty, probably not true, but it illustrated the dictatorial nature of the man. The upshot of all of this meant that Marco had the keys to all of the rooms.

Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, he and Ellie were utilizing one of the rooms for private conferences, and that ever since Ellie had volunteered to be on the parent day committee. He was a charmer.

She was bent over the desk at the front of the room; the window curtains were drawn. The lights were out and the last light of day allowed only a miniscule amount of illumination to seep into the room.

He was naked behind her and ramming her mercilessly with his cock. "Ugh!" she cried as he jammed her lower torso repeatedly against the hardness of the desk.

"You love it, Ellie, you know you do," he said, sure of himself.

"You're killing me," she said. "Do you have to be so rough?"

Just then a tidal wave of orgasms engulfed her, and she spasmed uncontrollably. He unloaded his seed inside of her and collapsed spent on top of her still bent over form.

He stood and pulled her up and to him. "Now, do your duty," he said.

She knelt in front of him and pulled his now semi-flaccid cock to her lips.

"Your husband can't do you like I can, can he, Ellie? You know you need this."

"Don't talk about him, okay. We've gone over this; he's off limits."

"Okay, okay. You can live in your fantasy world if you want. But old scarface doesn't deserve a quality chick like you," he said.

"Trust me, Marco, you've got a great cock and you know how to fuck me real good, but you will never be the man my husband is. You and I are just a couple pieces of shit compared to him."

"Oh my, you must be in love, honey child," he said laughing at her vehemence.

She was miffed. He wasn't following the rules. If he would just shut up and fuck, everything would be fine, she told herself. But the arrogant asshole just couldn't keep his mouth shut. She was beginning to grow tired of him, nine-inch cock or no.

I was slated to return home late Saturday the 14th from an NCTE conference in Indianapolis. Ellie should have been home.

It had been a useful trip professionally speaking, and I was excited about the opportunity I would soon have to share what I had learned with my fellow Language Arts teachers. I caught a bit of a break on the last day, Friday, when my final workshop was cancelled because the presenter had been unable to make it.

On the one hand I was disappointed that the workshop had been cancelled, but on the other happy since I would be able to get home to the family a day earlier. I tried to call Ellie, but she was not home and her cell was down when I tried that; that bothered me. Annie, I knew was on a trip to the mountains with some other students from the college. I determined to surprise Ellie.

At 25,000 feet, I was daydreaming about the weekend fun and the faculty party, and I fell asleep. I woke up as the plane was making its final approach.

I took a cab home, no sense having Ellie have to drive all the way out to the airport to pick me up, especially since she was not expecting me till the next day. Plus she was probably at the school getting things ready to decorate the gym for P.E. parent night the next weekend.

I was hoping for a real nice welcome from Ellie. I was feeling frisky and wanted to play. Again, I knew Annie was still up in the sierras on her backpacking trip. As for that, it was one that was annually sponsored by the environmental club she'd joined at the junior college where she had enrolled as a freshman just a few months before. I therefore fully expected a weekend of uninterrupted fun and frolic with my wife.

What I wasn't expecting was a car in my driveway that wasn't one of ours. Ellie wasn't alone. My heart caught in my throat. Past experience made me wary.

Though I hoped what I was thinking would not be true; I was afraid that it was.

I parked a few doors down from the house and made my way to the side gate which was at the end of short path that ran between the side of the garage and the neighbor's hedge. It was late in the day and the sun was low and behind me which I hoped would help conceal my movements. I needn't have worried: no one was in the kitchen or the front room, and the curtains to the upstairs bedroom were drawn. In the back, the kitchen door was unlocked; I slipped in.

The house was unusually quiet: no vacuum cleaner, no clang of utensils or dishes, no humming or singing—my wife always sang when she was doing housework. None of the usual.

I peered into the dinette from the kitchen doorway. Beyond it lay the living room. My wife was reclining on the couch, naked. The man, also naked, lay half on top of her playing with her breasts and slobbering kisses all over her upper torso and lips. I was sick. The man was Marco Phillips, the P.E. teacher.

I resisted the impulse to rush in and ruin their little tryst. I needed to think. I was no fool; I knew that if I burst in on them it could be a case of "he said she said," and there were two of them and only one of me; I was already thinking divorce. What else could I think; this was the second time she'd cheated; I was determined it would be the last. I slipped out of the house.

My first call was to Rex Coleman. Rex had gone to college with me years before and over time we had kept in contact. We weren't the blood brothers that we once had been, but we were still good friends. Rex was a private investigator who worked for one of the best law firms in the city.

Rex agreed to do the surveillance and to check the asshole out who was fucking Ellie. At this point, I was more into revenge than anything else; Ellie I knew could handle, but I wanted to destroy the asshole too. If I could make Clyde Barrow eat the weenie, I sure as hell could handle Mr. Phillips. I wanted that maybe even more than I wanted to get revenge on my slut wife. But the first order of business was to protect myself and ensure that I wasn't going to have the tables turned on me in court; again, I wasn't stupid.

My only concern was Annie; this was going to undo her. But then again, she was a strong girl and pretty smart. I had to hope that she would weather this new storm as she had the last. What had she said before? Something about her mom being compulsive or the like; I couldn't remember.

I took a motel room for the night and planned to return the next day as originally scheduled. That night I planned some more, and then I drank and brooded and slept.

I woke to a gray and rainy day. That the weather was shit seemed appropriate; it sure as hell matched my mood. But, I knew I had to keep it together until I finally figured out a way to handle my situation.

I wasn't due home until later in the day. I called Rex back and asked for the name of a lawyer with a winning track record from his firm. He gave me a name and a number.

The office of Adele Carter was nondescript and a mess. It reminded me of the lawyer's in the movie Erin Brockovich. Appearances, however, in this case, were deceiving. This woman was clearly a predator; I wasn't feeling good, but I was feeling more secure.

My case, she assured me, was already strong. To begin with, I could prove that Ellie had cheated before. My only problem with that, and it was not a huge problem, was that I had made no major issue of it at the time. Well, love is what it is, and even now I wasn't going to like what I had to do to Ellie. But this time I was going to do it: the label of cuckold was something that I wasn't real keen about having applied to me. Still, I didn't want to bring Ellie down without also wiping out Mr. Phillips. At some point Rachel Phillips was going to be brought on board. That she would score her husband pretty good, I had no doubt.

Ms. Carter Esq. also assured me that my PI was the best. "If there is anything out there, he'll get it; you can depend on it," she said.

I had given Rex the key to my house. I wasn't certain that Ellie and her asshole would use our place again, but it figured that they might. Geezsus! I thought, how could she be so stupid? I mean with her track record to dare to do it in our own home. I mean even if I didn't catch her, even if Annie never had a clue: what about the neighbors. She seemed to be trying to get found out. I had told Rex, that I wanted the place wired to nail the cheaters if they did it again in my place. Rex signed on to take care of that little ditty.

Cameras in the bedroom and the living room. Additionally, he put one in the master bathroom; I wondered about that one. He said that a lot of good evidence was destroyed in the bathroom; it would be nice to get one or the other of them doing just that. "It's all about incriminating the perps," he said.

The wheels of justice—and revenge—were in motion. Now, all I had to do was wait. Wait, and pretend to be the tender, loving, stupid assed cuckold idiot I had proven to be so far. Well, I would soon be shucking that particular title. When I was done with Exlax and Lucretia Borgia, my new title would be ruthless asshole!

I arrived home at 6:00PM, thirty minutes after my expected time. Ellie was waiting for me with bells on. Damn the corned-beef and cabbage smelled good too. That would be one thing that I would miss when I bounced her ass. Well, there was no need for me to go hungry. Even an unwitting idiot cuckold had to eat.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me her most practiced kiss: she was good. "How was your flight?" she said.

"Good. Long. I'm bushed, but that corned-beef and cabbage smells great," I said with an enthusiasm that I really felt.

She talked animatedly during the entire time we ate. I made all of the right responses and asked about her week and Annie and all of the usual.

"Annie will be back tomorrow," she said. "I expect she'll be even more tired than you are. I think it's the mountain air."

I agreed.

I helped her clean up the dishes and store the leftover food. "I'm gonna shower and hit the hay," I said. "I wanna have a nice day tomorrow, and I don't want to be too tired to enjoy it."

Ellie looked genuinely upset. "I thought you and I might..."

Oddly I was horny as hell. But, the image of that butthead Phillips banging her turned my stomach. I really couldn't bring myself to touch her now, not yet.

"Not tonight El," I said. "I am really dead tired. But, tomorrow might be a whole different kettle of fish." I smiled winsomely, gave her a peck on the cheek, and headed up the stairs.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny—that in contrast to the gloom of the day before. Maybe the gods were trying to tell me something.

We picked Annie up together at the school. There must have been fifty students from the JC milling around. Ellie had been right about one thing: Annie was bushed.

"Geez, dad, it was fun but I'm a physical ruin right now."

"I'll bet," said. "So, did anything unusual happen? See bigfoot or anything?" I said.

"I think that bigfoot is driving the car," said Ellie laughing. "Honey, you might want to think about slowing down a little. The streets are still not all that dry from yesterday.'

She sure was in a good mood for having just screwed me over with Marco Phillips a couple of days before. Maybe this cuckold thing wasn't so bad, I thought—not!

Annie was going to bear the brunt of the divorce, and half of my thinking was going into figuring out how I could minimize the damage in her regard. It was her inevitable disappointment with her mother that made me the angriest. Ellie just didn't seem to give a damn who she hurt. It was all about her and her boyfriends. Well, she could have them.