Nancy was asleep when I got home, so I crawled into bed quietly and lay there thinking, and later dreaming, about the fantastic sex I had experienced with Cindy. That must not have been all I dreamed about, though, because when the alarm clock went off I woke up in a cold sweat with a giant knot in my stomach. 'What about next week, ' my brain screamed to me.

Aye, there's the rub. Next week I'd have to pay for the incredible high I felt last night. Next week the guys are coming to my house, and it is my turn to have an 'emergency' so the guys can try their luck with my wife.

I felt Nancy roll out of bed, and opened my eyes just barely enough to look at her. I must have been insane to agree to the guys' plot. Nancy looked so sexy in her nightgown. When we cooked this scheme up all three of my buddies were drooling over the possibility of getting into her pants. Hell, we were all so fucking horny that night that we were all wild to pork all the other guys' babes. But that was fantasy, and now it's about to be real.

My brain was reeling as I tried to face the unthinkable, or find some way out of it. Could I get sick next Tuesday? Convince Nancy she had to go visit her mom? Just bolt the door and not let the guys in? My desperate escape thoughts were interrupted by Nancy as she came back in from the bathroom.

"Dick! Wake up! You're going to be late for work!"

"OK, I'm awake; I'm getting up," I mumbled as I rolled out of bed. My thoughts were going to have to wait for later.

"How late did you guys play last night, anyway? You were at Bob's house, weren't you? Didn't you even think about his poor wife?"

"It wasn't that late. We were thinking about her." God, were we ever. We were thinking of nothing but Cindy the whole evening. But of course I couldn't say that to Nancy.

I started working on my problem again on the way to work. The catch with any of the things I had thought of earlier was that they wouldn't solve the problem, only delay it. The four of us had made a solemn vow that we would each go through with our part of the bargain. If I didn't come through next week, they would insist on a make-up session four weeks later.

It was a total shock when I found myself in the office parking lot. How had I gotten here? I didn't remember anything about the trip. Did I run any red lights? Dawdle at half the speed limit? Fixate on a tail light in the next lane over and drive in mindless formation? I'd seen zombie drivers many times during my morning commutes. This morning I must have been one myself.

I shook my head and tried to pull myself together. I was lucky I didn't get myself killed, and I'd better snap out of it now. I was going to need all my wits about me, because HansonMicro was coming to negotiate a contract with us.

I did manage to focus pretty well that day, though I couldn't completely block out the continual ache in my stomach. Vince and I had a business lunch with two HansonMicro techs, so I couldn't even let down then. And I sure as hell wasn't going to let myself go zombie again on the way home.

When I got home I told Nancy I had a bad stomach ache (true!) and I wasn't sure I wanted to eat anything; maybe I'd just go to bed early. She was very solicitous, and put a 7 Up on the night stand, just in case I felt like having it. She kissed me goodnight on the forehead.

That only made me feel worse. She loved me so much! What kind of a heel would I be if I gave three horny men free rein with her next Tuesday night? On the other hand, didn't I trust her? She did love me, and she wouldn't be tempted to stray, would she? Would she?

What was I worrying about? Even if I did leave her alone with the guys, surely nothing would happen. Back in college she and I dated for three months before we went to bed together. There was no way she would let herself be seduced in three hours, let alone fuck three guys in one night. And as for the guys, I knew what they would be trying, but I also knew I could trust them not to force her in any way, so problem solved!

Of course it was true that once Nancy and I started making it she seemed to get hotter and hotter. God, we had some wild times together back then. How sad that in the five years of our marriage things have cooled off so much. What happened to us, anyway? I read somewhere that a woman's sex drive doesn't peak until her thirties. If Nancy was so horny at twenty, how is she really feeling now, five years later? She may secretly be as ready as Cindy was to spread her legs for as many cocks as she can get.

How am I going to feel, for gods sake, wherever I am this coming Tuesday night, waiting until I can come home after the 'emergency?' I've read that some guys get a hard-on thinking about their wife fucking other guys, but not me. No, I can't imagine reacting that way. For me it'll be that stomach knot. It already feels as hard and heavy as possible, but I know it will get worse and worse, until it totally consumes me. Jealousy will totally consume me. I'll be crying. I'll feel like the lowest form of insect life.

This is insane! I love Nancy; how could I even think of doing this to us? I've got to do something; drop out of the poker gang, refuse to respond to the false emergency, come back early, warn Nancy ahead of time, something. True, we all swore to each other that we wouldn't do anything to mess this deal up. But, come on, Dick, you also swore to love and cherish Nancy so long as you both lived. Put oaths of marriage on a balance scale with oaths of drunken poker buddies and the poker buddies don't stand a chance.

Marriage oaths, did you say? What about my oath to be true to her? What kind of a disaster am I going to have at home if I admit to Nancy that I just fucked Cindy? And how can I tell the truth about what is going to happen this coming Tuesday without admitting what happened last Tuesday? Nancy is no dummy. If I warn her about next week, she is definitely going to ask how long this has been going on. And she knows me too well not to catch me if I try to lie about it.

But what about trust? Never mind the fact that I violated Nancy's trust when I fucked Cindy, the question is, do I trust Nancy? I should, if I really love her. On second thought, never mind that never mind. I just screwed someone else's wife, and I'm hoping to screw two more. If Nancy does want to fuck their husbands, I've got no gripe coming.

No, no, no! There is no way I can fuck up our marriage like this. I've got to do something. I'll have to warn her some way. And it seems like there is no way I can warn her without telling at least part of the truth.

I drank the 7 Up and tried to convince my stomach that it was dinner, then tried to convince my head that it was time to go to sleep. The dinner part was a tough sell, but the bedtime part wasn't too hard. After the wild sex with Cindy, the wild dreams last night, and the panic I'd felt all day, I was ready for a good nights' sleep. Before I dozed off I resolved to have a heart-to-heart talk with Nancy tomorrow evening.

I pulled Nancy into the living room right after dinner, and sat her down on the sofa next to me, telling her there was something we needed to talk about. I took a deep breath and plunged right in.

"Nancy, I've done something I'm very ashamed of." I hung my head. "I know I have to tell you, but it's so bad I, I'm not sure how I can."

Her immediate reaction was concern, not suspicion, which only made me feel even more like a slimy worm.

"Don't be afraid, whatever it is. We ... I love you, and we have to share our problems, so we can work them out."

I nodded. "Thanks. OK, I'll just try to tell you the whole thing. It was the four of us that play poker together. One night we cooked up a really evil plan together, and we all swore we would go along with it. I can't believe I agreed to do it, but I did, and now it's happening."

"Oh, Richard! You're not doing something illegal, are you? If they catch you, will you go to jail?"

I shook my head. "No, it's not illegal. It's worse than that, really." I paused a moment, then went on. "It's immoral; it's despicable; it's a terrible thing to do to you."

"To me? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Nancy, I always thought I loved you, but this proves I don't, not really."

Her eyes widened. "You mean SEX? You mean you guys are having sex with other women?"

"Yes, it's about sex, but it's not just having sex with other women. Nancy, I ... I gave the other three guys permission to ... to try to seduce you."

"You WHAT?"

"I know, it was crazy. I must have been insane. We all did it. We each gave the other three permission to try to seduce our wife."

"So I suppose you've been out fucking the other three women," she said bitterly.

"Whoa, slow down. Think about it for a minute. Have the other three guys been fucking you? Have any of them tried to seduce you recently? I didn't think so. Why do you think I would be doing it when they're not doing it?"

"Because you're not telling me the whole truth. I can tell. You're hiding something from me, Richard."

"True. Or, at least I haven't told you everything yet. Please, Nancy, just try to listen while I explain some more things. Don't jump to conclusions, please?"

"OK," she said very suspiciously, "I'm listening."

"The deal was we would each give the others one chance to seduce our wife, and it would be at one of the weekly poker games."

"What? That doesn't make sense. You'd all be together then, so..."

"Shhh, I told you to listen. The plan was that when we got together at one of the guy's places, we would start the game, and then he would get an emergency phone call from his office, and have to go in to work to handle some crisis. That would leave the other three guys alone with his wife for the rest of the evening."

"Oh, that is so evil!"

"That's what I told you."

"But you wouldn't really do that, would you?"

"It started last week at Bob's house. Yes, we really did do it."

"He really said he had an emergency, and walked out?"

"He did."

"So, what did you guys do after he left?"

"We'll talk about that in a little bit, but first, we need to talk about something else. Of course you know that next week the poker party is going to be here."

"OHH! You mean ... but Dick, ... you won't go through with it, will you?"

"Honestly, Nancy, I don't know. That's what we need to talk about."

"But, Richard! This is crazy! Why would you do this to me?"

"Look, in the first place, nobody's going to rape you. They'll try to seduce you, but no force, no threats, no blackmail. We all swore to that. There is no way that you would have to do anything that you don't agree to do.

"So, one way I've been looking at it is that I don't own you. If you were to decide that you want to have some fun with them, that's your decision. Being married doesn't make you my slave."

"Yes, but it does mean I've promised to be true to you."

"Right, and that is your promise. It's not my demand; it's not the law. It's strictly up to you what that promise means to you."

"But think about what you'd be putting me through. They'd be hitting on me all night!"

"Yes, Nancy, I know. That's part of why I said I was insane to go along with it. That's why I'm talking to you about it, even though we all swore that we wouldn't tip our wives off."

"So you're already breaking the rules you guys made."

I nodded.

"Does that mean you might break them more?"

"Yes, I might. But I've tried to see how to get out of this, and I just can't."

"What if you canceled the poker game next week?"

"It would just postpone the problem to the next time they were here. The same thing would happen if you decided to slip out for the evening."

"What if you refused to go when you got the so-called emergency call?"

"That would get pretty nasty. They would blackball me; none of them would ever speak to me again. The same thing would happen if I did go, but then came back early."

"So it sounds like you're saying we have to go through with it."

"Yes, unless you can think of a way out. Nancy, I'm scared, but I keep telling myself that I need to trust you, that I do trust you, so nothing will happen. For some reason, though, I'm having trouble convincing myself."

"So, let's go back to what happened last Tuesday. Maybe that's why you can't convince yourself."

"Maybe," I mumbled.

"So I take it something did happen."

"Well, of course something happened," I bluffed. "We tried to seduce Cindy."

She looked at me suspiciously. "Tried, or succeeded?"

"She did get pretty turned on," I admitted. "She didn't know what was going to happen, so we were able to sneak up on her emotions."

"You didn't answer my question. Tried, or succeeded?"

I dropped my face in shame. "Succeeded," I whispered.

"So you're telling me you fucked Cindy two nights ago?"

"Yes."

"And now you're afraid that somebody might fuck me next Tuesday?"

"Yes."

"Don't you see anything unfair about that?"

"Yes," I said, raising my head and looking at her, "but I can't help it. I love you, and I'm jealous."

"You should have thought of that before you fucked Cindy."

I didn't know what to say, so I just nodded.

"Richard, you have just screwed up big time."

"I know."

"No, you don't know. You have no idea."

She got up and started pacing. Then she stopped and pivoted to face me. She was directly in front of me with her feet planted far apart and her hands on her hips.

"If you hadn't said anything to me there is no way I would have let those guys seduce me. But now ... oh, shit!"

She slid her hands up to her tits and started stroking and squeezing.

"Now that I know what you did last week, I am going to be ready and willing to party when they get here."

Her pelvis started humping back and forth.

"Oh, fuck, are we ever gonna to have a wild night!"

"No! You don't mean that, Nancy!"

"You think? You just wait and see."

She moved a hand down to her crotch and started rubbing there.

"You have no idea how wild I used to be before I met you. This is going to be my first time in years. OH FUCK!"

"Nancy, STOP THAT!"

"No way! You're going to be so sorry you decided to mess around on me. Oh, and don't even think of trying any of those ways out we were talking about."

She was unfastening and dropping her skirt as she spoke.

"Oh, GOD, YES! I'm gonna party. I'm gonna PARTY, no matter what!"

She ran out of the room toward our bedroom, with her hand inside her panties. Her final outpurst echoed down the hall.