Karma is a Journey

This story is the property of the writer Kalimaxos. Any unauthorized reproduction or reprint without the express authorization of the author is strictly prohibited.

My characters are often flawed, and like real life, my stories are a shitshow, like life. As my friend on Twitter says. “Hush, you’re in my world now.”

The idea came from mdm1106’s story “Boss Seduces My Wife in Front of me.”

Look it up.

I thought it was a noteworthy concept, but I never liked its direction, so I decided to do my own. In my version, the story begins as the original but eventually morphs in a different direction.

To summarize, an ambitious young man and his beautiful wife are invited to a party of movers and shakers. There, a powerful man seduces the wife of the young couple in front of the young husband. Somewhere along with mdm1106’s first-page narrative, mine takes over.

Enjoy.

I have included the original narrative until my version starts. That way, you don’t have to go back and forth. Mine is a stand-alone work. If you decide to read the original first or not, I leave that up to you. I suggest you read mine.

I intended to ask mdm1006 for permission for the record, but he does not have contact information for his account. So… let’s get to it.

***

Main characters:

Brett — the main character.

Lori — Brett’s wife

Duke — A powerful businessman

Gail — Duke’s wife

Roger – Brett’s college friend

Meredith — Roger’s wife

Patricia — Brett’s pre-marriage mentor and “friend with benefits.”

Elsie — Brett’s personal assistant in D.C.

Tasha Greenwood — Brett’s mistress in D.C.

***

From: “Boss Seduces My Wife in Front of me.”

 

My wife Lori is 27, and I am 34. We have been married a couple of years, and she is, without doubt, the cutest, sexiest woman I have ever known. Her green-grey eyes, pouting lips and sparkling smile are captivating. Her long legs, slender body and firm, real breasts invite exploration, and she shares herself with me passionately in every way. She has a prominent pussy mound that she keeps immaculately shaved, showing off her full labia lips that flower open when she is aroused. I love to drink from her sensual pool of charms and immerse myself in her welcoming womanhood. In short, I consider myself the luckiest man alive, and I worship my true love. And until six weeks ago, I thought I would be the only man to ever have that privilege!

I am a private banking consultant for a very exclusive wealth management firm, so when a high society charity ball came up recently, the managing partner in my group bought two $1000 tickets for Lori and I to attend, so I could expand my network amongst the rich and famous. He also instructed me to ‘spend big’ on Lori so she could look a million dollars and agreed to cover up to $10,000 on ‘outfitting’ her for the night because these things matter in the glamorous circles we were about to enter. Lori of course, was delighted and somehow managed to burn through more than that on just a sexy little black cocktail dress, a tiny little clutch purse and a pair of shoes – I suddenly realized that I would need to win a lot of new business if Lori wants this to become her lifestyle!

We decided to stay for the weekend in the hotel where the ball was to be held. We checked in on Friday, and Lori spent the whole of Saturday getting ready. Like most guys, I couldn’t understand why a woman who is already so beautiful needs so much preparation, but when I saw her return from the spa and salon, hair perfect, exquisitely manicured and immaculately made up, I could see she was oozing confidence. Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than knowing she is so!

Complete with erotic black lingerie hidden beneath her figure-hugging dress, Lori was ready and looked an equal to any super-model. She smelled amazing, too, filling my senses and swelling my lust. My only regret (and hers too, I suspect), was that she did not have a jewellery collection to match the moment. I told her how amazing she looked, triggering a wry smile from her and the simple comment, “Watch out – I could get used to this and more!”

With my bride proudly on my arm, we entered the heady excitement of the cocktail reception preceding the ball. My boss was there with his third wife, a Ukrainian ex-model not much older than Lori. Fortunately, the girls hit it off immediately and chatted while I circulated with my boss for a round of introductions. When we returned, an elegant couple were talking with Lori and Ulya. It turned out they were the hosts of the sponsored table where we would be sitting. The man, a massively successful real estate developer and retail tycoon in his mid-forties, was accompanied by his poised and self-confident blonde wife Gail, whose penetrating electric blue eyes sparkled in the reflection of massive diamonds that adorned every available space on her perfect creamy skin. The conversation was light and frivolous. The mood was heavy with power, money and sex.

Duke, (as I will call him) concentrated all his attention on Lori while I was occupied with Gail and a man who I considered a great business prospect. Occasionally I glanced over at Lori, and I could see how intently she was absorbed in her conversation with Duke. I thought nothing of it as our eyes met occasionally, and we exchanged smiles.

When it was time for dinner, Duke placed his hand gently in the small of Lori’s back and guided her into the ballroom, and I courteously offered my arm to Gail. We slowly made our way to our allotted table through a sea of greetings and small talk as Gail was recognized by almost everyone. At our table, Duke ushered Lori to the seat beside him that bore Gail’s name card.

“I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your wife”, he said with gracious charm, “we’re having such a delightful conversation. Besides, poor Gail has heard all of my stories, and I am sure she would enjoy a break!”

I didn’t object, and Lori flashed me a huge smile. She was loving the attention and sat happily next to Duke, immediately locked again in conversation with him. Gail joined me on the other side of the table, and we sipped champagne, settling in for the evening. The seating was boy-girl, and I was flanked by Gail and a Brazilian woman with the longest sensual fingers I have ever seen, tipped with wickedly long crimson nails, married to my prospect customer Allan, who was a soccer promoter and sports agent. More than half an hour must have passed, and I had been so busy talking to my two beautiful neighbours that I hardly even glanced at Lori. Now that I looked at her, Duke was pressed close to her. Lori was mesmerized by whatever he was saying and occasionally threw her head back, laughing or looked at him intently with wide incredulous eyes.

Gail could see me watching Lori and placed her hand over mine.

“You know that he’s trying to seduce her, don’t you?” she said shockingly. I couldn’t believe her matter of fact tone and was lost for an answer.

“And he will probably succeed too”, she added, “he almost always does!”

Gail squeezed my hand as she felt me tense up. My first reaction was anger.

“Stay calm and think about it a little”, she said. “Don’t get upset. Every woman finds a powerful, wealthy man like Duke attractive”.

I couldn’t believe she was talking about her husband this way, watching him pay all his attention to my lovely wife. At that moment, Duke pulled Lori close to him and whispered in her ear. A wicked smile flashed across her face – then, after a moment’s hesitation, she shook her head as if to say ‘no’ and looked over to me. She looked radiant, excited and a little confused. I wondered about the subject of their last exchange and wished I could eavesdrop on every word. What did he ask? What did she say ‘no’ to? Strangely, with mixed emotions, I was becoming fascinated watching this unfold. I was slightly reassured when Lori blew me a kiss across the table, although I recognized the horny look in her eyes.

I turned to Gail.

“How come you don’t have a problem with Duke flirting with other women?” I asked innocently.

“I don’t have a problem with anything he does. I’m not stupid – I know things will happen with other women if I like it or not. That’s just who he is. Honestly, I’m turned on by the same things as Lori. He’s charming and sexy. When you’re with him, you feel like you’re the only person in his world. That intensity is a very powerful aphrodisiac to a woman!”

“So you’re OK that he has other women?” I asked incredulously.

“I’m more than OK. I even encourage him. He needs more sex than I can give him. He comes to me for love”.

This was a whole new world for me. Gail could see that I was confused.

“Look at her”, said Gail, motioning towards Lori, “see how alive and excited she is talking to him. Right now, she will be flush with lust for him. She can sense his power and dominance. She wants to submit. I know how that feels – it’s what he does for me too. Let her enjoy herself”.

***

And now my version begins

I was shocked at Gail’s candour and stared at her in disbelief. My stomach churned as I realized that this was not to be a standard party for my young wife and I. Inwardly, I hoped Lori would stay strong and resist this arrogant man.

“Do you have affairs too?” I asked. Gail laughed and squeezed my hand again.

“Of course not!” she burst out, “he would never let me do that. We’ve had some pretty wild parties at our ranch, with lots of swinging, and I do fuck his friends and business associates whenever he wants me to. He loves me to do that while he watches!”

‘Fuck his friends and business associates. While he watches?’ Shocked, I wondered who would do that? I could see straight up swinging if one was in that sort of thing. The two spouses go into that as equals for the fun of it. But the thought of having Lori do that to advance my career was unthinkable. Yet Duke did with Gail and was successful. And Gail, content with the lifestyle he had provided, was quite agreeable to play his game.

I looked over at Lori again, and by then, the signs were unmistakable that she was becoming aroused, making eyes at Duke and slowly falling under his spell. I was even more surprised at myself. Instead of intervening, I was willing to let things play out and see what kind of woman I had married.

I wanted to see if she would let him succeed. If she would pass the test.

Gail continued.

“It will probably be the best sex she’s ever had. It always is for me. I even like it when Duke has had a new conquest, especially another man’s wife, because he comes home afterwards and does me like crazy, boasting about how he wore down her resistance and in the end she begged him!”

By that point, I was becoming nauseous. And my mind was filling with wild images of them together. Luckily I was interrupted by the master of ceremonies calling for the first auction of the evening.

“Watch this”, instructed Gail. “This will be his first big move on Lori”.

“How so?”

“Just watch – he’s a master at this. Very soon, we will know if he can conquer your wife!”

The auctioneer announced a beautiful Dior necklace, valued at over 60,000 dollars and its images were flashed up on the screen. All the women at the table commented on how lovely it was. Lori pointed to it and called over to me that I should bid on it for her. I nodded to acknowledge, knowing it was out of my league! Even though she knew our finances quite well, she acted visibly disappointed. That she did, both irked and disappointed me. I was seeing a side of my wife I had not before.

Then Duke asked me loudly:

“Hey Brett, are you going to bid on that for Lori? Because if you are, I will stay out of the bids?”

“Out of my range!” I had to reply reluctantly, feeling very insignificant at the moment. The bastard was doing this to belittle me in front of my wife. The same wife who made another disappointed face for all to see.

“OK then”, said Duke, “It’s mine”. He flashed a knowing look at Gail.

The bidding was frantic. Duke competed furiously with other guests until finally, he prevailed at $92,000. There was much applause and cheering at our table, with Lori the most enthusiastic. Duke pulled a chequebook out of his tuxedo and scribbled out the check. Then he went up to the podium to get his prize, taking the microphone, joking that he was so ashamed with the other bidders underpaying that he had decided to pay $100,000 after all. He returned triumphant to our table and passed the necklace around for all to see.

When the necklace reached Gail and I, she pressed in close to me.

“He’s going to offer to let Lori wear it this evening in exchange for some small sexual token”.

Now I was spellbound as the necklace was passed a few more times until it came to Lori. She looked at it adoringly, and Duke leaned over to whisper in her ear. Her surprised look told me he had put his question to her. I realized Gail was right, and I was witnessing my young wife being seduced in front of my eyes by a very powerful man.

***

Throughout my life, I had these moments where something someone had said later came to fruition. Usually, it had been things my parents or others had warned me about, and I had rolled my eyes at the time.

My mind flashed to my sexual and life mentor of my younger years, Patricia Smyth-Henderson. She was a wealthy widow who befriended me during my college years and made her bed and body available. And what a mentor she had been!

Patricia had taught me all she knew of love and sex as she was quite the connoisseur at both. Yet after her late husband’s passing, she had decided to forgo love and focus on only sex and friendships.

The topic of seduction had come up one evening at the club we had gone dancing to. Patricia and I had observed a man using his best lines on a woman near us.

“Seduction in process on aisle four,” I had joked.

“There is no such thing as seduction,” she had blurted out suddenly.

“I don’t know Patricia. He seems to be doing a good job of it.”

“Pish!” she had said in disagreement. “No woman is seduced. We are not morons to be hypnotized by a Lothario Syth lord waving his hand and planting naughty ideas in our head.”

“You are quoting Starwars!”

“I’m older, not old Brett. But my point stands. Seduction is a myth that only men believe in to puff their ego.”

“Do go on, Patricia,” I replied with an amused look as I held her closer.

She had been only five years older than I back then, still is, I suppose. But the woman seemed 50 years older. A sage of life. An old soul. But she had a body that would wake the dead… for midnight sex.

“Don’t ever let a woman make you think you seduced her, my dear. If they do, they are trying to manipulate you.”

“Really?” I replied, trying to draw her out.

I had never entertained the notion that I had seduced Patricia or that anyone could. She was too strong a woman to allow that. Patricia chose her lovers.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “A woman knows if she wants a man before they talk. When they do, it’s only to see if he is a moron and screws it up. If he doesn’t, then she cuts to the chase, and it’s off to the races.”

“Got it,” I had replied a bit too flippantly. ” No man is a Jedi or Sith lord of seduction because women are never seduced. They choose their pray.”

“You are being snide Brett. But then that is cute on you. And I like you being spunky. Plus, you ring my bell when we fuck. So I forgive you.”

“Why, thank you.”

“You are quite welcome. But yes. Seduction is bullshit. When a man does it.”

“Oh, so a woman can seduce a man?”

“It worked on you,” she replied and rubbed her thigh on my hardening manhood. “Still working.”

***

So no. Duke was not seducing my darling wife. She was letting him think he was. My Lori was no weak-minded person easily swayed by trinkets. Yet this trinket was very, very expensive. For us anyway. For Duke, it was a drop in the bucket, judging by the way he had written that check and what I knew of his holdings.

No, my wife was not a mindless ditch. She understood quite well what this man’s intentions were and also the consequences. And she knew that with his power came opportunities. Prospects that only come to people like us once in a lifetime. The question was, what was she willing to sacrifice for the doors he could open for her. And me if I played his game.

Duke stood up and towered over Lori. Slightly fearful, she looked up at him as he took the necklace from its box, unclipping it and offering it towards her neck.

“Shall I?” he said loudly enough for me to hear. Lori merely nodded silently, and he stepped behind her while she pulled up her hair to give him access to her slender neck to fasten the necklace. Now my wife wore his trophy. I knew what this meant.

Duke took Lori’s hand and lifted her, placing a kiss on her cheek. Then he turned towards me.

“I could see how much Lori wants the necklace, so it only seems fair to let her try it on to see if it suits her. Doesn’t she look beautiful?”

I admitted that she looked amazing and told Lori that the necklace suited her. Lori looked at me intensely as if trying to communicate a deep question. I’m sure she had no idea that Gail had told me what was happening because I hadn’t given her any indication that I understood. Instead, I abandoned her at that moment and chose to let her decide if she would “succumb.”

“I’m sorry I can’t buy it for you, darling!” I called across to Lori.

The look my wife and I exchanged spoke volumes. We both knew where this was headed, but we kept our emotions under control toward each other. For my part, hoping she still had an opportunity to refuse, but what she was thinking was for her to deal with. I did not want her to see either a yes or no in my expression.

“You won’t have to pay for it”, replied Duke, “there’s always a deal to be done. We can find a way”. To others at the table, it probably sounded like a joust between businessmen. To me, it was a lance to my heart because I knew what he meant and wanted. By now, it was in Lori’s hands.

Gail leaned over to me.

“Don’t worry, he never asks for too much at first”, reassured Gail, “maybe her panties, or to feel her under the table, or for her to get his cock out secretly. He will pick something like that to break down her resistance. From then on, it’s only a matter of time before he asks the big question”.

Duke leaned into Lori and whispered in her ear. She nodded submissively and excused herself to go to the restroom. She looked a little flushed and agitated and hardly glanced in my direction.

“Is she wearing sexy lingerie?” asked Gail.

“Yes, something from La Perla”, I confided.

“Then that’s what he wants from her. He will have already found out what she’s wearing and demanded it. To test her.”

I watched my gorgeous wife thread her way through the tables. I guess Gail could sense my tension and thought she could take my mind off it. I felt her hand under the table on my thigh. It didn’t take long for my body to respond. I mean, it is not every day a super-model is handling your crotch under a table.

“Good – I’m glad you’re getting excited too!” she exclaimed.

I asked Gail why Duke didn’t just buy the best and sexiest hookers in the world, and she explained how it was about power, not money. For him, seducing another man’s wife and fucking her in front of him was the ultimate power trip. I had to admit, the idea of screwing Gail was beginning to excite me too. I wondered how Duke would take that.

A man on the other side of Gail distracted her, so she removed her hand from my bulge. Ratz!

I took out my phone and, with shaking fingers, texted Lori.

Me: Are you having a good evening?

Her: Wonderful!

Me: Nice of Duke to let you try the necklace

Her: I know! Can you believe it?

Me: I think it’s what you do when you’re rich and famous, like him

Her: I don’t mind! Anything to wear this necklace!

I didn’t give any indication that I suspected what was happening, and Lori offered no clue. She seemed perfectly happy concealing her feelings from me.

***

At the edge of my seat.

It was at that moment I knew that we were in trouble. Meaning the “her and me”, or what was left of “her and I.”

Me: Have fun then

Her: I’m sure I will. You too

‘You too!’ how the hell was she expecting me to have fun with what was about to happen?

About five minutes later, Lori returned and sat back down next to Duke. I watched from the corner of my eye, and after a short pause, I could see her pass something under the table to Duke. He had her panties, his first victory. Lori looked at me innocently, and I forced myself just to smile back. Yet, inside me, what had been “us” was collapsing.

The conversation returned to normal around the table, and there were two more auctions, but Duke didn’t bid this time. I kept stealing glances at Lori and Duke and could see she was completely absorbed in conversation with him. Soon the dancing started, and Lori called over to Gail and I, fingering the necklace which adorned her neck.

“I’m going to dance with Duke. I hope you don’t mind”.

“She has to”, added Duke with a huge smirk on his face, “that’s part of the price for wearing the necklace tonight!”

I did not wonder what the other part would be. I knew.

Gail and I wished them well, and my wife set off hand in hand with Duke. Soon they were dancing intimately on one side of the dance floor. Her body melted into his, and she rested her head on his chest. The lights were lowered as the evening took on a romantic mood.

After three dances, Lori and Duke returned to the table. He had his arm around her waist, and she was smiling, giggling and flirtatious. As they sat down, Duke pulled his chair closer to Lori. Then to my surprise, Duke started a business conversation with me, asking about my firm. As we discussed various investments and he shared some information about his businesses, I noticed that Lori’s eyes were glazing over. But it wasn’t from boredom. Judging by the position of his arm and how she sat forward, it was quite apparent that Duke was fingering her under the table. Then it struck me – this was my test!

I just continued the conversation looking straight at Duke. I both hated him for his arrogance and admired him for his confidence. But mostly, it was hate.

After a few moments, Gail got up and walked behind Duke, gently massaging his shoulders. She also looked intently at me to see if I would flinch. She ran her fingers through Duke’s hair and teased the back of his neck. As Lori began to breathe more heavily and her eyes closed, Gail winked knowingly at me. Duke didn’t miss a beat and kept up his conversation with me as I watched my wife silently give a tiny shudder, and I knew she had come on his fingers.

Lori’s eyes flashed open, and she stared straight into mine. Apart from a slight curling smile, once again, Lori gave me no clue of what was happening. I looked back at Duke. His smile was now smug satisfaction. He knew that I knew and that in his mind, I had passed the test of submission. And he knew I would not do anything to stop him with my wife.

***

Moment of truth

“Come on Lori, let’s do what girls do best”, Gail said. “Let’s go to the restroom”.

As they left, I expected Duke to confront me and tell me his intentions with Lori. Instead, he asked me to join him and introduced me to several of his wealthy acquaintances on other tables. We spent a little longer with two men, Grant and Davis, who Duke said were two of his best friends. He told them to make me and my ‘exquisitely charming’ wife welcome to their world and said he hoped to see them later in the evening. As Duke steered me back to our table, he put his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s good that you have such a beautiful wife,” he said, “Lori will be a great asset for your business career.” Then he turned and shook my hand firmly, fixing me in a knowing stare, continuing. “Think about it. I would be a very valuable customer, and so would those two guys”.

Before I could answer, I could see the women coming back to the table.

“Say nothing to Lori,” was Duke’s command to me. “This is all up to her now.”

“I understand”, I managed to say because I was sure where this was leading.

As they returned, Lori made her way directly to Duke and stood dutifully beside him with longing eyes.

“Surely I owe you another dance?” she asked him. “I can’t imagine I’ve paid the rent on this necklace yet!”

“You certainly haven’t!” He laughed, taking her back to the dance floor.

“Let’s dance too”, Gail asked, and soon we were dancing close together.

I deliberately positioned us away from Duke and Lori so as not to interrupt her “seduction.” Gail was and still is a stunning and sexy woman. Having her in my arms had its inevitable effects. Pressed close to me, I know Gail could feel my bulging cock.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what I said to Lori?”

“I’m dying to know!”

“I told her I’m OK whatever she does with Duke!”

“What was her reaction?”

“She was very surprised, then she thanked me, asked me not to tell you anything and keep you occupied, in case she decides to do it”.

“So she still thinks I don’t know!”

“Yes,” Gail replied with a slight smile. “So kinky. Isn’t it?”

If this woman weren’t as attractive as she was, she would be annoying. But I had a feeling that there was an opportunity there with her if I played my cards right.

“So, occupy me,” I responded, pulling her closer.

Satisfied her mission had been accomplished, Gail smiled, and she let my hands hold her closer as we dance.

Less than fifty feet away, my wife was dancing with another man and thinking of giving herself to him, keeping it secret from me! As I watched Lori dance with him, he whispered something to her, and she looked longingly up into his eyes and nodded yes. They immediately broke the dance and started towards the door. She never looked back to check where I was.

“They’re leaving”, I told Gail.

“You want her to do it, don’t you?”

“It is all up to her as Duke said,” I replied with a fatalistic tone.

Gail felt my cock between my legs. It had waned when I saw my wife leave with her husband, but she managed to bring it back to life.

“More distraction?” I asked her.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you with this”, she said genuinely. “Maybe if you do business with Duke, one day he will tell me to fuck you. I hope he does!”

“Gee, thanks,” I sarcastically replied as I moved her hand away.

“Oh, don’t be this way,” she said, realizing I was not having a good time in this absurd situation. As if that was possible.

Gail and I went back to the table. She could see how nervous I was and started to reassure me.

“Don’t worry, she’s not going to leave you! Try to relax. He won’t hurt her. Let her enjoy herself. Duke is an amazing fuck”.

Her reassurances did little to settle my anger and disappointment toward my wife. My first instinct was to get up and leave. But another part of me told me that if I did, Lori would have a way to spin what had happened in my absence to her favour.

No! I needed to stay and see the “brutality and starkness” of what was happening. I needed to.

***

“Never turn away from the horror of life Brett,” Patricia had advised me. “Embrace the horror. The harsher the experience, the easier it will be for you to survive it after. Harshness means black and white. It means clarity. Gray leaves ambiguity and a return to something best left behind you.”

“What has made you this way?” I had asked.

“Terrible things,” she had replied as her eyes stared back at me coldly. “But those things made me stronger.”

“You are quoting Nietze?” I asked in surprise. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

She did a dismissive wave at my lat quip and answered.

“What does not kill us makes us stronger,” she had repeated the famous quote. “Remember that. In that point, Nietze was right.”

***

“How long will they be gone?” I asked Gail.

“Not long. He just wants to conquer her initially. Then he’ll want to return and parade his victory in front of you. He’ll want you to know she enjoyed fucking him. It’s all about his power over both of you.”

“I don’t know how I let this happen!” I spoke out loud, to myself more than to Gail.

“Because he’s the alpha male.”

“No,” I replied.

“No?” she said, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

In her mind, I had capitulated to her husband’s aggressiveness because of my greed to land him as a client and advance myself using Lori in the process. I assumed that others had fallen prey to her husband’s manoeuvres. Probably with Gail as a witness and willing conspirator.

“Too late for second thoughts Brett,” she said with that knowing smirk.

I thought of running after them, but I didn’t know what room they had gone to. But then, if I was testing my wife, I had to let the entire process play out and then decide based on the results. If I didn’t have a breakdown first, that is.

“Is this how it started for you and Duke?” I asked as if I wanted to know more about the lifestyle in a new lifestyle enthusiasm.

“Something similar,” she replied. “It’s a long story that I may share with you one day. But yes, I was another man’s fiance, and Duke lured me from him.”

“Has it been rewarding?”

“Oh quite so,” she smiled. “As you will find out. But it will be rough for you at first.”

Then she started to explain what could happen next.

“If Lori’s wearing the necklace when she comes back, it may be a long night for both of you. It means she has totally submitted and pleased him and that she has agreed to his conditions.”

Gail emphasized the word “totally” to me while locking my gaze to hers.

“I see,” I replied as her lips curled up for a knowing snicker.

“You have no idea Brett.”

***

Crash point

Gail took a sip of her champagne and smiled at me. I realized she was an accomplice in her husband’s conquests and that she was enjoying this as well. Duke’s wife was preparing me for something. And in facing the “starkness,” I wanted to know.

Letting her think I was now a willing accomplice, I begged to know the conditions.

“If Lori wants to keep the necklace after tonight, she has to confess to you, describe what she did with Duke and get you to join them upstairs to watch him fuck her again and again.”

My head was spinning, but I needed to know the extent of this situation. Seeing no visible resistance from me, Gail continued.

“Do you want Lori to have that beautiful necklace?”

“Yes…yes, I do”, I replied, knowing that this was expected of me.

But the question and my submission were not about that expensive trinket. It was about my agreeing to let my wife be used in return for monetary gain and career advancement.

“Duke may also have conditions for you, depending on his plans for Lori”.

“What kind of conditions?” I was now more than a little nervous.

“That I can’t predict”, explained Gail, “except he will have decided how he wants to enjoy Lori by now, and he will want you to admit you want to see it happen. Then he’s conquered you both. That’s what turns him on.”

A few other people returned from the dance floor, and our conversation was interrupted. About ten minutes later, I saw Duke and Lori enter the ballroom and make their way over to us. They stopped briefly at a few tables as Duke introduced her to some of his friends I had met earlier. As they got closer, I could see Lori was wearing the necklace and a very satisfied grin. She was flushed and radiant – just like I remembered her on our wedding night. Probably more so.

“Sorry I stole your lovely wife – but she didn’t seem to mind”, Duke said to me triumphantly, flashing a smile at Lori. Turning to Gail, he invited her to dance and left me alone with Lori.

“Come on, let’s dance too”, Lori said matter of factly, and I followed her to the dance floor.

I couldn’t believe how composed Lori was as she slipped into my arms on the dance floor. She felt warm, and I caught the faint aroma of sex mixed with her perfume. Lori pressed up close to me.

“I have something to confess, and I need you to promise you won’t make a scene here or get angry until I finish explaining.”

‘Starkness. Embrace the horror. Face it head-on,’ I remembered all of Patricia’s advice on adverse situations.

“I promise,” I replied, forcing myself to stay calm.

Lori looked intently into my eyes, and a smile started to crinkle her eyes. In shock, I realized that she was actually looking forward to telling me!

“I just went upstairs and had sex with Duke. I couldn’t help myself – he’s the sexiest man I’ve ever met. He has my panties in his pocket, and his come is dripping down my inner thighs.”

‘He’s the sexiest man I’ve ever met.’ Imagine a wife saying that to her husband about another man. I didn’t have to. She had tossed that slight at me as if I was her girlfriend — not her husband. And not caring how I would feel at that cutting comment.

I gasped, speechless at her brazenness. I just stared into Lori’s eyes as she continued. Who was this woman I had been married to?

“I know I should say I’m sorry, but I can’t. It was amazing. He just seemed to break down my resistance so easily, and then all of a sudden, I knew I wanted him. I couldn’t think of anything else. I didn’t even think of you.”

‘Face the starkness. Embrace the horror. Remember it!’ Oh Patricia! You had been right, but even all the warnings and advice had not prepared me for this. I felt so cold. So alone.

Lori looked up at me with questioning eyes, waiting for my reaction.

“So you’re glad you did it?” I asked calmly.

“Yes. More than I can explain,” Lori answered, letting it sink in for a moment. “And the sex was amazing too. He’s an incredible lover, and he fucked me beautifully. I came twice in fifteen minutes. I hope you can cope with that. I need to make sure that you still love me?”

‘Love! Love? Is she serious?’ I thought inwardly.

How could she think that her blatant betrayal in front of everyone could pass for love? Does anyone who loves someone act this way unilaterally? The answer to me was clear.

Had she and I connived together to approach Duke and offered ourselves to him, I would have accepted my complicity to her debasement. But we had not. This evening’s events had been Lori’s doing. Lori’s choices to make this decision for us both. A fait accompli, where she and I had not discussed and agreed to anything she did.

The way Lori had acted and behaved, I no longer felt a part of her as an equal. I was but a tool to her. The “starkness and brutality” hurt – more than I had expected that they would. This was the woman I had pinned all my hopes and dreams on; to live a life together as equals. Me and her against the world – advancing our careers, having children and growing old together. It hurt so much to know that all that was not to be. That all before that night had been but a fantasy — an illusion.

And in that realization, all obligations of loyalty and fielty I had toward her faded into nothingness. And just as she behaved toward me with duplicity and ambiguity, I did the same.

Feigning my approval, I kissed Lori tenderly on the lips and told her I still loved her.

“Good, because I have a really difficult question to ask you,” she said with a slightly mischievous smile.

“Ask away!”

“I want to have sex with Duke again tonight – all night if possible”.

“That wasn’t really a question.”

“No, it wasn’t, but this time I need something from you”.

Lori bit her lower lip, hesitating.

“Duke has offered to give me this necklace if I have sex with him while you watch. Could you do that for me?”

“So it’s all about the necklace?”

“No, it’s all about us. I want to spend the night with him anyway, I really do. But I want you to get me the necklace by agreeing to watch.”

There it was. As if what my wife had done with Duke was not enough.

I put my hand on Lori’s tight bum and pulled her to me. The same ass he had touched and probably held as he fucked her. Her body no longer felt the attraction it had earlier in the evening, but I had to play my part in this charade.

“There’s your answer”, I declared as I kissed the side of her jaw. Not wanting to place my lips on hers as she had probably sucked “his” cock with them. “I would love you to have that necklace! You earned it.”

Now it was Lori’s turn to be surprised. I’m sure she had expected me to be furious, not approving or acquiescing as I seemed to be. She took a moment to gauge my state of mind further and asked another question.

“So you’re turned on by this?”

Where had she gotten that idea? I had never confessed a need to see her with another man. I know some men get off on that, but it was not my cup of tea. But the answer was plain to see. Duke. He had been the one to plant that idea in her deluded mind. After all, Gail had said he got off on the conquest of other men’s wives.

“Yes, I’ve been watching him seduce you all night!”

“And you didn’t try to stop him?”

“It was so sexy to watch! I wanted him to succeed,” I lied. “By the time he fingered you under the table, I knew I wanted you to fuck him too!”

“You dirty bastard!” she said, glad I was so accepting of it all.

I bet she couldn’t wait to go back to her new fuckbuddy and tell him I was “down with it.” More like “Down with the Sickness,” as the Disturbed band’s song was titled.

Strangely enough, the slow “seduction” during this hellish evening had helped me place it all in perspective. And once I did, playing along and deceiving Lori, in turn, came easy to me.

Once the tension was gone, Lori wanted us to share the thrill. She told me Gail had explained what she does for Duke “seducing” couples and that she could do the same for me. She clearly liked the idea that I would let her fuck for fun and profit. Playing along, I told her I was proud to have such a sexy slut as my wife.

Then she hit me with the big one.

“Duke has some more conditions that he wants you to accept. Please don’t be too shocked when he asks you – I know what he wants, and it’s OK with me. But you have to agree as well.”

‘Like you asked for me to agree to let Duke fuck you?’ I thought of replying. But that we were past that point. After all, I had tested her by allowing it, so what would have been the point of challenging her. Unlike her, I was not deluded into thinking she would all of a sudden have felt remorse and beg for forgiveness. That shit only happens… never.

“What are they?” I replied with feigned anticipation.

“He has to tell you”, she laughed, enjoying seeing me cringe.

Lori then steered us next to the dancing Duke and Gail. When we were next to them, she simply called out “Yes” to Duke, giggling with a huge sexy smile on her face.

At the end of the dance, we broke apart, and Lori went off to the toilets again with Gail. Duke took me back to our table. This time he sat next to me, and we refreshed our glasses of champagne. This was his moment to prove he could dominate me too.

“I enjoyed your delicious wife more than any woman I’ve had for a long time”, he declared with great satisfaction, “Lori is so sexy, and she has such a sweet body. She was so willing. Lori begged me to fuck her. Her pussy just opened up, and she pulled me into her with her legs behind my back. She kept calling out my name and telling me how much she wanted me. She came twice before I came in her – did Lori tell you that just now when you were dancing?”

“Yes, and she told me how much she enjoyed it,” I revealed, knowing this was what he wanted to hear. He looked pleased. It was all I could do to keep myself from smashing his face in. Instead, I forced a blank look with a faint smile.

“Would you like to see me do it again? Because I’ve decided she deserves to keep that necklace if you watch.”

‘Face the starkness. Embrace the horror. Remember it!’

Did I want to watch them? Fuck no!

I guess Duke sensed my hesitation and leaned in for the kill. Her perfume was still all over him. A mix of Lori’s and Gail’s at that. How lucky he must have felt. He had convinced the wife of a person he saw beneath him to give herself so easily. And the greedy husband was all too willing to let it happen for financial gain. But that was not enough for Duke. He wanted to rub it in.

“Admit it – you want to watch me fuck Lori, don’t you?” he hissed as his eyes bore into mine.

“Maybe,” I said with feigned trepidation.

“Good! I want you to watch how much she enjoys it as well. And feel free to take photos and videos to record the pleasure I will give her. Just no face shots of me. Will you do that?”

“I might,” I replied as if we were just discussing business. “I find the business aspect of this very promising.”

“Oh yes,” Duke replied. “Trust me. You will not regret having my account in your portfolio.”

“I like this. This is business. Purely a negotiation,” I replied with a nodding smile.

“Yes. Yes! Now you are getting the gist of all this. Me fucking your wife was just the door opening into a whole new world Brett.”

I touched my chin and looked away as if I was weighing the options offered.

“Good,” Duke chuckled, assuming I had agreed.

Taking a small silver pill box from his pocket, he produced a blue pill from it. He sipped down his Viagra with some more champagne.

“I am going to make sure I can fuck her for hours!”

I sat back looking at this man who thought life and other men’s wives were his for the taking.

“And from this moment, you will follow my instructions Brett,” he continued. “You cannot put a stop to anything, intervene, touch her or enjoy her in any way unless I tell you to, or until I say I’ve finished with her. I want you to be absolutely sure that you understand you’re handing over your wife to me completely. OK?”

I acted s if I was agreeably thinking about it. Then came my next surprise.

“By the way, I offered Lori to Grant and Davis in exchange for meeting up with you sometime. I thought it might be good for your business. Lori agreed and has promised to show them a good time.”

“So let me get this straight,” I replied, now staring back at him the way he had before.

I noticed a slight surprise in him at my last-minute hesitation.

“This is business, after all, Duke, and the negotiation has just begun.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean, you got to fuck my wife. She got an expensive trinket out of it….”

“Wait just a moment…”

“No, you wait, Duke,” I replied sternly. “You make a scene here, and people will know what you have been up to. Do you want that out in the open?”

I saw both surprise and irritation in his gaze at my insolence. I would tell that Duke was not used to people arguing or talking back to him when he had the upper hand, which he thought he did. He reluctantly waved for me to go on.

“Now, as I was saying, you got my wife’s pussy. She earned her 30 pieces of silver. But I have yet to state my terms for this business alliance you are speaking off.”

“What terms? You don’t get to….”

Once again, I interrupted.

“Duke, you sampled something tonight without my approval.”

He bristled.

“Lori…” he tried to say.

“You and Lori negotiated the price of her pussy,” I cut him off again. “I did not.”

“You knew,” he cut in. “You had to know.”

“Duke, when you do a business deal, do you agree and then let the other party dictate the terms and details after?”

“No, of course not. What does this have to do with this?”

“I’ll explain,” I replied. “Do you go to a car dealer, sign on the contract and then have him decide what your car will be, the options and the price?”

“No, of course not! But…”

“But you expect me to? Yes, Lori negotiated the price of her cunt with you.”

“Don’t be vulgar.”

“Says the man who just fucked another man’s wife and wants him to watch as he and his buddies want to do it in front of him. Shut the fuck up, Duke.”

I looked down briefly, and he followed my gaze. He looked down to see my hand holding a steak knife dangerously close to his crotch. All of a sudden, he was not so on top of the world as he thought.

“You can’t…” he tried to say.

But I moved the knife closer, sticking it in his pants to touch his thighs. He looked back at me in surrender.

“What do you want?”

“To negotiate, of course.”

He stayed silent, letting me continue.

“As I said, you did your negotiating with Lori, not with me. You just assumed that I signed a contract and that you got to tell me the terms after. You wouldn’t do that yourself. Why would I?”

He looked bewildered. People who are on top one minute and on the bottom the next are usually that way. Denial is reduced by helplessness and inaction.

“You took a free sample of Lori. Now I want one of Gail.”

“You are out of your mind!” he protested. “This is about doing business with me, not trading wives. That is for amateurs at swinger clubs.”

“Oh, so your wife is out of bounds while you get to have mine? Is that right?”

“Brett,” he said in exasperation. “In return for your wife’s charms, you get my business and that of my closest friends. Damn you man! You will be rolling in dough in a week from just our three accounts. And there are more here I will send your way.”

“Clients who will want to fuck my wife to sign the deal. Maybe have her on call if they decide, right?”

“Brett. Brett,” he implored me. “This is the nature of our world. Wake up. Today you give in and surrender your wife to your new clients and me. But you have staff. And you can hire staff whose wives are as good looking as Lori or better. Just as Gail does for me, Lori will help you seduce these women, and you will have more pussy and money than you ever thought off.

And after tonight, you will be part of our exclusive club. You will never have to watch Lori do this again if you chose not to. Think of that. Don’t ruin a good thing.”

“Duke,” I replied, leaning in closer to him. The knife, still by his balls. “The way I see it, before we ever do business, you owe me a fuck with your wife, Gail.”

“Not until you pass our test Brett,” he replied. “Not until you show us what you are made off. If you want to manage our accounts, we want you to be ruthless in that endeavour. Not a pussy. Prove yourself, and we’ll talk about Gail and the other guy’s wives.”

Just then, the women started to walk back from the restrooms. From where Duke and I sat at the back of the ballroom, they saw what they thought was their husbands talking.

“Smile,” I said to him. “Wave them off. We’re not done.”

He did as I told him and then turned to me when the women sat at a table away from us. Duke was trying to control his facial expressions, but I could tell he was scared. And to be honest, I had enough of this game.

“Yes, sir,” I finally continued. “You owe me a shot at Gail’s fine pussy. It’s been a while I banged a super-model. But then, just as the decision to let you in her pussy was Lori’s, so will it be with Gail when I collect. And you will have no say in it.”

“You’re not listening to me Brett,” he said, shaking his head.

And he was right. I wasn’t. The rage I felt at him taking my wife under my nose infuriated me.

“Now, in case you have any ideas about calling security on me, my cell phone has been recording our conversation. Including the parts about you banging my wife, how good it was and how you wanted to whore her out to your buddies.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Duke implored me. “Don’t do anything you will regret. If you hurt me in any way, you will end up in jail.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” I replied with a smile. “I owe you.”

“You what?” he asked, confused at my retort.

“You made it possible for me to see I was married to the wrong woman,” I said, nodding to him as I stared at the person I thought I loved when we came into the room. “This was all a test Duke. And she failed it. You made that possible. But you still owe me for one wife fuck.”

Taking a towel with my other hand, I began wiping any of my fingerprints from the knife and stealthfully placed it back on the table — to the right of the plate. After all, etiquette must be observed. Duke was looking at me with relief and also disappointment.

“You stupid boy,” was all he said and pushed away from me before I could threaten him again.

Standing up, I looked at the woman who had broken my heart one last time and turned to leave.

“Brett!” I heard her say, but I was no longer listening.

I walked out at a brisk pace and made it to the elevators before I heard Gail call out this time. I stepped away from the closing doors and leaned against the wall after pressing the ground floor button. The doors could not slide close fast enough.

***

Aftermath

Not knowing if Lori had followed me home, I moved fast when I entered our house. It was no longer our home. My first stop was our wall safe, where I removed all the documents we had from stocks to the mortgage papers and even our marriage certificate.

I stuffed them all in my laptop carrier then went to the bedroom. I tossed as much of my clothes in the two suitcases we had and filled a trash bag with all my toiletries. My shoes went in another, and then I took all of it to my SUV outside. I left everything else inside. I needed no pictures nor my wedding ring that I left with a note on the bed.

“My lawyers will contact you for a divorce.”

I spent the night at a Holiday In Express after turning my phone off. The one thing that kept coming back to me was how lucky I was not to have children with Lori. Sleep did not come easy. My mind kept replaying the events of the night in my head without my permission.

I woke to some knocking on the door by the housecleaning staff. I let the woman clean the room and fix the bed as I called my college friend Roger in San Diego.

“About time you called,” he said. “Have you finally considered my offer to come out here?”

“I’m ready,” I replied.

“Is Lori coming with you? Or have you two split up?”

“All finished but the paperwork,” I replied.

“I’m sorry to hear. What happened?”

“Long story that I’ll tell you after we have a few drinks at your place,” I said, not wanting to talk about it on the phone.

The thing is, I was still processing everything, and it still hurt too much to talk about it.

“I know Georgia weather is nice, man, but San Diego is better,” Roger had been talking while my mind was elsewhere. “Plus, we have incredible sunsets.”

“I’ll catch a flight as soon as I can and let you know the flight before I leave. I’ll catch an uber to a motel or something.”

“Now you’re insulting me,” Roger replied. “You’re staying with Meredith and I.”

“I don’t want to impose,” I replied. “I won’t be good company.”

“Fuck you, man. You were never good company, but you’re my bro. I’ll send a limo to get you. Nothing too good for my new VP.”

“VP! I hope I do good by you Roger,” I replied.

“I know you will,” he replied. “And Brett…”

“Yeah.”

“You deserve better than Lori. Come out here. We have plenty of good women.”

“So long as they fuck good is all I care,” I replied.

Eventually, I hung up and made reservations to fly out west the following evening: Goodbye Atlanta and helo San Diego.

Before I left, I contacted my attorney and dropped off all the papers from the safe. They would copy them and deliver them to Lori when she was served. I left them my RIDE and keys. My SUV was parked on their lot and would be there when I returned when the divorce was finalized. I would not be there to see the in-between process, nor did I care.

As I checked in for my flight, I was glad to be leaving and get a fresh start at life. Why did I not confront Lori? What would have been the point? She had made her choice, and I was making mine. If there was ever to be a confrontation, this soon after that night was not the time. I was still hurting and needed to process and recover. What I knew for certain was that Lori would not be part of my future.

While waiting at the airport, I had gone through all the accumulated emails, texts and social media posts of the last two days.

To say Lori had sent many would be an understatement. They were typical. From “where are you?” to “please talk to me,” “I love you,” and “it was only sex.” Actually, the last one I agreed with her on. I’m not a prude and could tell the difference between love and sex. No, they are not the same.

But betrayal is stark and brutal. Lori had acted as an individual that night. Not as my partner in life. Again, I was glad to find out before we had kids. Having her do that to me after would have been a nightmare.

I forwarded all her messages to my attorney just as he had asked me to and then deleted them from my phone. Then I blocked her number. I was not interested in confrontation, long speeches by either of us, remorse or revenge.

***

“When something is over, make sure it’s over and move on,” Patricia had said once, and it was as valid now as it had been then.

You see, Patricia and I had a friendship with benefits relationship. When I started developing feelings for her, I knew it was over. You can’t have a relationship with a woman still in love with her dead husband.

I had left her a note that I had an opportunity in Atlanta and would visit Boston whenever I could. We had talked on the phone a few times, but that faded as she found a replacement, and I started dating Lori. In the end, we were just exchanging Christmas cards. But I never forgot her. Patricia was the best lover and friend I ever had. Too bad nothing more could happen. But then life is like that.

***

Drained from all the turmoil, I slept from Atlanta to Chicago, where I transferred for the Sandiego flight. When I landed, my new life started.

***

Life 2.0

The next six months went by surprisingly quickly. Roger made me VP of government relations. We did a lot of work with the DC crowd and the local politicians. We helped them write banking regulations and laws while they paid us handsomely.

I lived in a beautiful condo overlooking the bay, drove a jag and dated a lot! Wanting to forget the Lori debacle in Atlanta, I threw myself into work and the social scene of work and the politicians I dealt with.

Six months after leaving Atlanta, I flew back to the Peach State for the court hearing of my divorce. My attorney and I walked in the courtroom expecting to have to argue the divorce Lori was contesting. Instead, her attorney informed us that Lori wanted a few minutes with me to talk, and she would sign. I only agreed to it if both lawyers were present. Something which they agreed to as they would be charging us by the minute to do nothing.

Lori had dressed demurely for court. An expensive business suit. I wondered who had paid for that. But I could tell her makeup was professionally done, as was her hair, cut short and styled perfectly. Short heels completed the professional, no-nonsense look that still showed her attractiveness.

“How are you Brett?” she asked with what was supposed to be a pained look.

I dispensed with the pleasantries and got right to the point.

“There is no turning back Lori. Just sign the papers.”

“You disappear for months and won’t even tell me how you are? Or how you have been?”

“You want conversation?” I cut her off. “Go talk to Duke. You and he do that quite well. I have a flight to catch.”

My lawyer kicked me under the table. I was not supposed to reveal my whereabouts to her.

“Where are you going? Where have you been? Do you know how crazy I went looking for you?”

I knew my lawyers had informed her that I was fine and just wanted space until the divorce.

“Just sign the papers,” I replied, trying to keep my irritation down.

We stared at each other for a few seconds in an impasse. The lawyers started fidgeting but knew better than to interrupt.

“OK, I’ll tell you why I did it,” she blurted out.

I hadn’t asked as I didn’t want to hear her answer. Probably something about how Duke was better looking or more of everything.

“I know why you did it,” I replied. “You told me as we danced – no point repeating it.”

“Before we went to the gala, I searched online who would be there and who they were. The men and women there were some of the wealthiest people in Georgia. People of power and wealth that you and I would never amass in a lifetime.”

My first instinct was to yell at her to sign the papers and stop the bullshit. But as she spoke, I realized that she was honestly telling me why she had done what she did. My curiosity to hear it from her got the best of me.

“I saw the kind of life they had and knew that it was the life I wanted for us Brett,” she continued leaning over the desk. “I wanted us to have the great house, the expensive cars, the pools, tennis courts, exclusive club memberships, private yachts, European vacations and the extensive asset portfolios and the power that went with them.

“Duke was just the step on the staircase to the new life Brett. You and I had talked about swapping with couples. So the concept of sex with someone else should not have shocked you. All you had to do was play along with Duke and his friends fucking me, and you and I could have been rich by now.

“But your ego wouldn’t let you did it? One night Brett. That was what all of them had to endure. One night of watching them fuck me, and you would have been in the club. You said to Duke that I sold my pussy for 30 pieces of silver. I assume your biblical reference is tied to my letting him fuck me for the 96,000 dollar necklace. Ninety-six fucken thousand dollars for a night of fucking Brett! Selling that alone would have bought us stock or let us expand your business.

“The guys would be your clients and invite you to their parties and fuck their trophy wives. So they got in my pussy. So what? You would fuck their young wives and send them back wanting more from you. And we would have been rich. Rich Brett! But you had to ruin all that and run off to where ever the hell you went.”

“Did it ever occur to you to discuss this with me?” I asked. “A couple who love one another respect each other to do things like this together.”

“There was no time Brett,” she replied. “I had to act right away. It was Duke’s rules or nothing. Gail explained it all to me in the restrooms. She has told me since that she explained it all to you. So did Duke after he gloated.”

“You did it all alone Lori,” I replied. “You made the decision and acted on it without even bothering to explain. You had the opportunity to. You could have told me when we texted back and forth. But you didn’t. You could have danced with me and explained the plan.

“Instead, you did everything alone. I was just the guy to take the humiliation then be your servant after. The guy to do all the work as you fucked man after man while I waited for them to be finished with you. To remind me how much you had begged them to cum in you. Do you know how demeaning that is?”

“No, Brett. You have it wrong. The demeaning part was mine to do. I was the one to get on my knees and suck their cocks. I was the one to swallow their cum. I was the one to bend over and take their dicks or spread my legs for the same. I was the one to let them rut my ass and cum in me. All of that Brett, so that your dreams would come to be.

Remember telling me how you wanted to be successful and play with the big boys? How you wanted me to make a “good impression?” How these men could finance our life? What was spending ten grand on an LBD, fuck-me pumps and La Perla lingerie? You were parading me to those men like a paid whore. But when I performed as one, you got upset?

“That’s right. I admit it. I wanted the good life and the perks. I even sought fun and uninhibited sex. You know, the sex you wanted from Gail. The woman you were to have at the first party after our initiation Brett. But you had to go and ruin it all for us.

“That is why I didn’t tell you Brett – because you live in fantasy land. You think wealth and accomplishment come without a price, without sacrifice. I was willing to pay that price for us Brett. But I knew you would baulk, and I would have to drag you across the finish line.

“I had hoped you would stand up and do what was needed – that you would put two and two together. Instead, you had a fit, made a scene and wrecked it for us both.”

“I’m sure you are doing well being Duke’s mistress or whatever you are these days,” I replied.

“Oh, you silly stupid man,” she said, shaking her head. “You think that all that was about them getting my pussy?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“No, you moron. I can’t believe how dense you are. It was all about you showing them that you would do anything to have them as clients. You were their target — not me. I was but a way for them to test you. It was your test Brett. Not mine. But you blew it. For both of us.”

“Speaking of blowing Lori, you blew your test too, no pun intended.”

“Don’t be juvenile Brett. And if you mean the fidelity test or loyalty test, you can forget that guilt trip. You knew what was going on. Don’t you deny it. Gail was explaining it to you along every step. Yet you did nothing to stop it. You just watched me degrade myself for nothing. You knew Brett! You fucken knew. And let it happen. What does it say about you?”

“I wanted to test you to see if you would cheat.”

“Cheat! Cheat? Are you for real? You brought me to that gathering to be your eye candy dressed like a whore. You realized what Duke was doing. Gail told you, and you dare tell me that you were testing me? Get over yourself, Brett.”

“Are you finished? You…”

“What? What are you going to call me, Brett? A cheating whore? A slut?”

“What would be the point? You have your story, and I have mine.”

She stared at me with a mix of anger, despair and disappointment.

“Was that all?” I asked.

“No. There was something you said that night that bugs me.”

“What was that?” I replied, fiddling with my pen in irritation.

“You thanked Duke for showing you that I was – how did you put it?”

“The wrong woman for me,” I replied defiantly.

“Yes, that. The wrong woman,” she said as her eyes got wet, and she shook her head as if to regain her composure. “That hurt Brett. It still does. You….”

She stopped in midsentence and shook her head in anger and disappointment.

“Oh, damit! Fuck this. There’s no reaching you. Where is the pen?”

Her lawyer gave her his as she reached for the divorce papers. We would split everything we had up until the day I left Atlanta 50-50. We had no kids, so it was a clean split. She had sold the house for a good profit with my lawyer’s approval earlier that month and moved to an apartment near her job. She signed on a few dotted lines and pushed the papers toward me.

“You had it wrong Brett. You didn’t marry the wrong woman. I married the wrong man.”

There. We had both signed and were willing to move on. All of a sudden, I no longer cared what Lori said or thought.

“I hope you find the right man for you,” I said as we stared at each other for the last time.

“Frankly, Brett Buttler, I don’t give a shit.”

“You got the quote wrong,” I replied as she walked away.

“Fuck off!” she said as she gave me the finger and walked out.

I didn’t care that she got the last word in. It no longer mattered as I had gotten what I had come back for. She had signed, and I was free.

Her lawyer smiled, shook hands with mine and walked out after her. Then they talked about dinner out together with their wives and golf on Saturday at their club. After that, I swang by my attorney’s office to sign some final papers, including turning over my SUV to them as part of my payment, as I didn’t feel like driving it back to California. And just like that, I was done with my life in Atlanta and was single again.

***

Pride is a hard thing to swallow

It wasn’t until I was back in Cali that what Lori had said to me hit home. I hated what she said because… because she had been right. No matter how Duke’s offer disgusted me, had I gone through with it, I would have been rich by now with wealth beyond what either Lori or I could have ever amassed.

I mean, what exactly had been asked of me by Duke? To watch him debase my wife? He had already defiled her. Him doing it again with my future clients would have been humiliating but so profitable. So why had I baulked? Why had I reacted the way I did?

The answer was in what both Lori and I had said at different times. We had both married the wrong person. She wanted someone to go all out in the pursuit of wealth and upper-class life. While I… wanted what?

Oh, sure. I wanted the stuff, the power and even the extramarital sex. I was no prude. Under different circumstances, I would not have been averse to sharing Lori. Had Duke offered Gail that evening, I would have let the process with him begin. As for his buddies doing my wife without sharing their women, that was also a no go proposition. Why?

Because it was demeaning, that’s why. No matter how much money I made from all three of them after. No matter how many times I got to fuck their wives, the memory of my humiliation would stay in my mind forever. Each time they would look at me, they would have that “I fucked your wife so you can get my business” look. That, “your wife chose my dick over your dignity” look. That “you sold your self-respect for money” look.

She had been right – what had been the message of me bringing Lori, dressed like an expensive hooker, said to Duke? I had put her out there for clients to pounce on. Duke did, and Lori let him, thinking that her submission was the way to a better life.

Lori knew I would have issues with it, but she misjudged me and forced my hand. But after seeing her be conquered so quickly, I had judged it all as betrayal and cheating. When asked to validate her surrender, I had thought of how I would be humiliated — not of the profit to be gained. And certainly not the price she had already paid, believing deep down I wanted her to.

I wondered if Duke had not included his friends in the first night and tossed in Gail if a swap if I would have been more agreeable. Probably so. But it was their money and their rules. If I wanted to play with the big boys, I had to play their game. Lori was willing, but I had not. Simple as that.

For a while, I just focused on her and I being different people and that I was better than her. I would sit back and call Lori a whore or a slut as I drank to forget. But the reality was that I took her to that den of debauchery and let Duke take her without lifting a finger to stop it. Then excusing it by saying it was a test, and she failed. But I knew it was hogwash.

***

Moving on

There was no going back. That was a certainty. Lori and I had ruined our marriage that night in a way that could not be fixed. So all I could do was learn from it and move on. Everyone makes mistakes in life. We had been fortunate not to have children together. Our break-up was clean and final. Now we could move on and start life anew. Hopefully, not making the same mistakes as we had before.

We. Well, there was no we anymore. As time passed, I wondered what Lori’s life was like. Was she still seeing Duke and his friends? Was she dating? Had she moved? But the feelings of pain and loss would return, and I just could not bear them. So I locked Lori in a box in the back of my mind and threw myself at work. It was the only way to cope.

It is true. Time heals most if not all wounds.

My weekdays began early with a morning run, then a shower and out to Starbucks for a coffee and something light to eat on the way to work. Then it was meetings, calls to clients and elected officials until the early evening. A ten-hour day became my standard. My day ended by going to the gym at my condo and retiring for the evening while reviewing the next day’s schedule.

One of the lessons I took from that fateful evening was that I had not prepared myself for what I had faced. After meeting and falling in love with Lori, I had ignored the advice Patricia had given me about never going into a situation unprepared or not knowing who I was dealing with.

I had also learned another and more important lesson. I was not ruthless enough. Not hungry for success as some were. In not having a wife anymore, no one could place me in the position Duke had. So marriage was out of the question. And in not having to spend time on a spouse, I was always on call to fight fires and make business trips as needed.

“So, how many women have you broke up with this year?” Roger asked one day as we sat in his office.

It had been over a year since my divorce.

“You know me,” I said.

“I appreciate all the work you do. In fact, you are about to be named senior VP. How does that sound?”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you Roger. To thank you and Meredith for all you’ve done for me.”

“Why does that sound ominous?”

I took a deep breath and decided the best way was straight to the point.

“Roger, you know I have been working closely with Congresswoman Morison?”

“Yeah, she keeps singing your praises. What about her?”

“She is running for senate.”

“And?”

“She wants me to be her advisor and help run her campaign.”

Roger nodded and stared back at me.

“I know you, and her don’t have anything going on,” he said with a smile. Margaret is gay.”

“Bisexual,” I corrected him. “But no, we are not involved. I’m doing this for the contacts and opportunities.”

“OK, Brett,” he said, extending his hand. “I’ll keep your position open until just after the election. Then you either come back, or I have to replace you.”

We shook, and I left. Roger had been a great friend. But I had not. It was one reason why I had to leave San Diego.

***

I was not worthy of Roger’s friendship. Why? Because in the last five months, I had been seeing Meredith, his wife.

It had begun when after she and Roger had come over for diner, and she had seen the sparse, make that Spartan décor of my condo. Meredith was an interior decorator and volunteered to get my place made “for human habitation.”

The next day, she and two of her cohorts had brought a painter to do his magic and plenty of paintings and other “stuff” to decorate my humble abode. I have to admit it looked much better. When it was finished, she came over with a bottle of wine and a lunch basket. Having taken a day off, she and I spent some time talking and even went out for a while to an art gallery she loved.

It was a strange thing. Up until that day, Meredith and I had just been friends. She was my best friend’s wife and a close friend. Yes, Meredith was a beautiful brunette with a stunning figure, long legs and sculpted face. Her smile could light up the room. But I had always kept my distance, worshipping her from afar.

‘Your friend’s wife! Danger Brett Butler! I always thought.

Physical contact between us had been limited to an occasional side hug, with her kissing me on the cheek. Often in front of Roger, who would smile and shake his head at my reluctance to reciprocate.

Then one day, Roger had shocked me when I found him kissing a blond woman I had seen at their parties. Was he cheating on Meredith? ‘Who would cheat on that beautiful woman?’ I thought.

Just then, Meredith had come out to the patio as I was trying to backtrack past her.

“Hi Glenda,” she greeted the blond sitting on Roger’s lap. “How’s your hubby?”

“Rick is fine,” the blond said, not batting an eyelash. “I’ll say hi to him for you.”

Roger had smiled at his wife and I, keeping the blond perched on him.

Meredith had smiled back at them then pulled me back inside their condo.

“Leave them alone Brett,” she had feigned admonishment. “It’s not polite to stare. Unless you are a voyeur, and then we can ask them if we can watch.”

“Meredith, are you OK with this?” I had asked incredulously.

“I thought Roger had told you we are in an open marriage. He didn’t, did he?”

I shook my head in amazement.

A few days later, she and I were having lunch, and she had leaned in to kiss me. I had resisted – at first. But not for long. I had asked Roger about his marriage, to which he had chuckled.

“Meredith told me you turned her down.”

“She is your wife Roger. What the fuck!”

“After all you have been through,” he smiled. “And you are still a boy scout. We’re in the 21st century in L.A. Brett. I would rather she was with you than some asshole I don’t know.”

“Wow!”

“Have fun, but remember who she is married to and don’t hurt her feelings. I’m going to Hawaii with Glenda and her husband next week. Meredith will need your company.”

“You’re just leaving her with me? Wait, you are going to Hawaii with Glenda and her husband?”

“Yeah, he likes sharing her and being there. Ever hear of that?”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?” Roger had said. “Take Meredith out. Stay the night and don’t cum on my pillow.”

“Fuck me!” I had responded in shock.

“If you are not interested, call her and let her know that you have plans so she can make her own. She has been looking forward to time with you, but she has other suitors that can fill in.

“Brett, is something wrong? I thought you liked Meredith?”

“I do.”

“Good, then it’s settled. I’ll see you next week. Hold the fort for me until I get back next Wednesday.”

And that was how my affair with my best friend’s wife began. We had a ball that weekend in and out of bed. We hit the beach, ate out and went to art galleries where she showed me off to her girlfriends. She and Roger belonged to a circle of couples like them. They were open marriage swingers, as opposed to strict couple swappers.

I would soon learn that Four other husbands and had sampled Meredith and Roger had enjoyed the charms of their wives. But their open marriage was not limited to just those couples. They allowed each other the privilege of having other lovers.

To say I was shocked at first would be an understatement. But for the next four months, Meredith and I would occasionally get together and burn the sheets. Roger was happy she was with someone he could trust, and Meredith liked the thought of being fucked by her husband’s best friend.

They had suggested a threesome. But I had a problem doing anything with Roger’s wife when he was around. There were limits to my newfound libertine lifestyle. In many ways, I was still conventional. I liked one on one sex with women — Meredith included. While I did anal with her, we never got into anything weird like BDSM or water sports.

And as a typically “basic” type of guy that I was, I developed an attachment to Meredith. I still dated other women, but she was my favourite, and I would break dates to spent time with her. I struggled with my emotions and eventually told her I was falling in love.

“I think I am as well, Brett,” she had responded after kissing me. “The only thing is that I still love Roger and will never leave him.”

“I didn’t think that far,” I had replied truthfully.

“Have you ever heard of polyamory?”

Stupid me, I had not. So I shook my head.

“It’s when a person loves more than one person and has them in her or his life.”

“And you are OK with that?” I had replied.

“I can’t change my feelings for either of you.”

“So I can share you but can’t have you,” I had said.

“Have me? You already screw me sometimes more than my husband. How much more do you want?”

“I…” I hesitated. In my mind, I had visions of Meredith leaving Roger and being just with me.

“Brett, you have to come to terms with this. It is how Roger and I are. Sooner or later, he will know and to be honest, I don’t know if I can handle the drama if you two have a problem with my feelings.”

“So I get to share the woman I love?”

“Brett, you have been doing just that. I don’t want us to stop. Do you?”

“No,” I had replied, but inwardly, I wanted her to myself. “But please don’t tell Roger. Not yet.”

“Why?”

“For one thing, I don’t want to hurt him. But it’s also about how I feel. I need time to deal with this.”

“OK, Brett,” Meredith said, looking into my eyes. “You get a month. Then we tell Roger. I won’t hide it from him.”

Once we let each other know how we felt, I did everything possible not to let Roger know I was in love with his wife. I hardly ever acknowledged that Meredith and I were having an affair. And in doing so, I became a cheater.

Even though Roger knew that his wife and I were having sex when he was not around, I had kept my feelings for her secret. Somehow, the sex between us intensified. Be it the emotional attachment or the sneaking about, which we were, made the sex more arousing. And before long, Meredith hid her feelings from her husband as well, as the month passed.

Then the worse happened.

Roger had to leave for business meetings in Australia, leaving me in charge of the company and Meredith. He was away for a month and was accompanied by his sexy personal assistant. Yes, they were intimate.

What was the worse, you ask?

The following month, Meredith was late and then found out she was pregnant. The baby was mine as she had been with no one else during her last firtle period.

“What are you going to do?” I had asked her when she told me.

“We need to tell Roger,” she replied. “I want to keep the baby.”

“You are going to ask your husband to raise the child of another man?”

“I am going to tell him that you and I are in love and are going to have a child. And after this child, I am going to have one with Roger.”

Her cavalier attitude stunned me. She must have seen it on my face.

“What did you think I would do? Leave Roger because you got me pregnant?”

I wanted to scream yes, but I knew how she and my best friend conducted their marriage by then. Slowly, I accepted the reality of our situation and nodded.

We told Roger that night, and he shocked me by being ecstatic that Meredith was with child. That it was not his didn’t seem to bother him. But when Meredith told him she planned to have another with him as soon as she could, he beamed.

We had celebrated, and for the first time, our situation seemed awkward. As I was getting ready to leave, Roger stopped me.

“I need to know,” he said to us both. “Are you two still just fuck buddies, or have you developed a bond yet?”

I stayed quiet as Roger looked at his wife’s reaction. She bit her bottom lip in apparent trepidation then nodded.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Is that why you have been telling me you love me every five minutes?”

“Was I that obvious?” Meredith blushed.

“I love you both,” Roger replied, pulling us all into a hug. “But I need to know. Are you leaving me, Meredith?”

“No! NO! Why would you think that?”

“Just checking, I guess,” he replied as he gave me a furtive look.

“I love you both and have been telling Brett this from the start,” she continued. “remember how we had discussed the possibility of either of us falling in love with a lover?”

“Yes,” Roger replied. “Polyamory.”

“I think we are there, my love,” Meredith had said before leaning in to kiss him. Please tell me you still love me. Please!”

I sat there as a bystander as the second woman I had ever loved and her husband declared their love to one another. Right after she had told him she was carrying my child.

It had taken some time for me to come to grips with that. And to be honest, I was having issues with it when the opportunity to work on Margaret Morison’s campaign came along. Needing some time to come to grips with the situation, I took the offer and let Roger and then Meredith know.

“Are you bailing on me?” she had asked.

“No,” I replied. “But I do need the time to get a grasp on all this.”

“I think you are running away Brett,” she replied. “Just like you did with Lori.”

“No, I am not,” I pretested. But in a way I was. “I am not going to abandon you or my obligations to the child. But I need some time to get my head around this. Plus, this opportunity may not come again professionally.”

“Brett Butler, if you ditch the child and me, I will be so pissed at you.”

“I won’t,” I had replied. “I love you.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” she replied, pulling me close. “I love you too. Don’t you forget it.”

***

The next few months were hectic. I was out of town a lot, travelling with the Morrison campaign. Whenever I had time, I came back home to San Diego. And there were times that Meredith came to visit me on the campaign trail.

Roger had his fuck buddy to keep him busy, and when I was not there, they were apparently becoming closer. I still had problems with it and often entertained daydreams of her and I living together as a conventional couple.

I needed advice. A friend to talk to I could trust. Patricia was the only person I could think of. Meredith knew of Patricia. When I told her that I needed her guidance, she was ambivalent.

“Are you going to go get laid by your old girlfriend?” she asked. “Because I can deal with that. You hooking up with her and leaving me in the lurch is something I will never forgive you for?”

“I’m going for advice,” I had replied.

“Advice?” she asked incredulously. “You are going to visit an old lover, and you are not going to give the old girl a romp? What’s wrong with you?”

“Meredith, you are something else!”

“Don’t you forget it.”

***

And off to Boston, I went – to visit my wise woman on the mountain top.

“What the fuck is wrong with you Brett?” Patricia had asked after I told her everything. “What do you mean you are having problems with this? Your friend and his wife sound like good people. They helped you when you needed it. Hell, your friend Roger even let you have a crack at his wife and knock her up.

“On top of that, they will be raising your child for you when you are on trips? And did I hear right, the husband promoted you and is holding your job open for your return?”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?”

“Patricia, I always wanted a wife and family.”

“Well, you had a wife, and that went to shit. Now you have a family, and you’re complaining. If you wanted a boring vanilla life Brett, pumping your friend’s wife full of cum was not the way to it.”

“So, what do I do?”

“For fuck’s sake, Brett, grow up. You have a child on the way.”

“Patricia, it’s just not the way I had hoped life would be.”

I would have expected her to admonish me. Instead, Patricia gazed back at me with a loving and caring look.

“Life is never what we want, my darling. It has twists and turns, ups and downs. But it is the life we each have. Do you think I wanted to be a widow? To lose the love of my life?”

I shook my head no, knowing she was still unhappy.

“Take what life has offered you Brett. It is more than most people have. There is a woman who loves you and will have your baby. So she still loves her husband. You have a lot more going for you than most people in this world. You do love her, don’t you?”

“Yes, I just never thought I would have to share the woman I loved. It’s what ended Lori and I.”

After leaving Atlanta and my divorce, I had told Patricia the entire sordid story of Lori and I. She had listened and been understanding.

“You know, my dear Brett. You talk of women you love as if they are your property.”

“No!” I replied in protest. “I loved Lori, and I love Meredith. I just don’t want to share them.”

“Oh, little Brett doesn’t want to share his toys,” she said mockingly.

I was surprised she would talk to me this way. She never had before.

“You know why I never let us get too close Brett?” she didn’t give me the chance to reply. “You are a possessive child of a man. You think women should be your loyal pets – your ornaments. Well, we’re not your property. We don’t live in the middle ages anymore Brett.

” I saw your nature when you were younger and hoped to help you grow into a decent man. But I am beginning to think you are hopeless.”

“Am I now?”

She just stared back at me with arms crossed.

“You came here for advice. I gave it. Now lock the door on your way out. I have a rendezvous with a young man with more promise than you. He may not be as good in bed yet, but he has what you lack. Common sense. Goodnight Brett.”

***

The new job with the campaign was consuming. But time passed quickly, and soon the election came. After a close day of counting exit polls, Margaret Morison was declared the winner and became the junior senator from California.

And I returned to San Diego to my position as senior VP and father of a baby boy Meredith, and I named Robert after my father. My name was on the birth certificate, while Roger was the godfather.

The three of us settled our three-way relationship by moving into a hillside five-bedroom home that had plenty of room for us three and the baby. I kept my place as both Roger and I used it on nights the other had his turn with Meredith. I was willing to share her with her husband, but not in the same bed – much to her disappointment, I’m sure.

We had a good year together before Senator Margaret Morison called and offered me a job with the Federal Trade Commission. Her party was in charge, but she wanted me to be her eyes and ears there. That I made contacts that later brought me the wealth and power I had sought was a pleasant and well-deserved perk.

True to her word, Meredith became pregnant with Roger’s child. For the next year after baby Celia was born, I returned to San Diego each weekend onboard a government charted flight that flew the California congressional delegation home. It was Roger who suggested that Meredith come stay with me in DC every other week. He and his PA had a relationship of their own by then, so she filled in when Meredith was with me at the national capital. Yes, it was a different lifestyle, but it seemed to work for us.

***

Well, well! What have we here?

It had been over three years since my divorce, and I was still working at the FTC. Meredith had just left with little Robie to return to San Diego, so I returned to my “lone wolf” mode as Meredith called me being alone in DC.

She knew I had a girlfriend of sorts there and had met her, but they go along. Tasha was a stunning African American staffer for a conservative black senator from the south. Go figure. But we had a good rapport. She was fine with my relationship with Meredith, and I was OK with her being separated from her husband. The husband was a war hero Marine… who was gay and had issues coming out. So they kept up appearances, and I was “filling in” for him. Get it… filling in? OK, bad puns are not my thing. I’ll stop. Anywhoo, Tasha Greenwood was my DC wife as she called herself, and Major Robert Greenwood was off doing Marine things where ever the Marines needed him. Everyone was happy.

I came into my office, stopping at my assistant’s desk.

“Morning Elsie,” I greeted my PA.

“Good morning Mr Butler,” she replied, picking up her tablet to follow me into my office. “You have two meetings this morning and one this afternoon with the New York Federal reserve people today. They are leaving tomorrow.”

“Thank God for that. Bunch of stuck up a-holes.”

“Try not to say that during the meetings, Mr Butler.”

“Just getting it out of my system here with you. What about the rest of the week?”

“Easy day tomorrow, a meeting over with Senator Morison Wednesday. Her staffer says she is introducing you to some of her donors. You may lose your virginity again, so be careful.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. And Thursday?”

“Randal Pierson the third had to rush home with his mother in the hospital, so you get to fill in at his meeting Thursday morning. It’s with PeachState Holdings. Their CEO is…”

“Duke Ashford,” I completed her sentence.

“You know him!” she asked, a bit surprised. “Does he have a California connection?”

“Nope,” I said, sitting back on my leather chair. “He and I met in Atlanta, where I lived years ago.”

“Ah, a business contact?” she looked up, a bit concerned. “If the two of you have worked together before, there is going to be a conflict of interest. We will need to find a replacement for you.”

“Mr Ashford and I never did business together,” I said, contemplating if him fucking my ex-wife constituted a conflict of interest in government world. But I was curious.

“But I know of him. I met him and his wife at a gala. What do they want from the FTC?”

“You didn’t bang his wife, did you?” Elsi asked.

“No, Elsie, I most definitely did not, although she is quite bangable. Ex Ukrainian super-model and all.”

“I know who she is,” Elsie replied. “I think half the men in this country would line up at a shot at her.”

“More than half,” I replied. “So back to PeachState Holdings and Duke Ashford. What do they want?”

“They want a favourable ruling on some of our regulations regarding a future acquisition. If we rule favourably, they stand to gain a lot financially. Be careful.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t accept a bribe.”

“Stop joking about that in government offices. Even a joke can get us in trouble for that. I like my job and want to keep it.”

“You have nothing to worry about. I’m the political appointee here. OK. Unless you got anything else for me, I’ll try and catch up on some email and finish my coffee.”

“Try not to spill it on your suit,” Elsie said as she walked out.

She could be as insolent as she wanted. Without Elsie, I would be lost navigating the halls of power in Washington. She either knew or found a way to make a connection with the Pas of people I had dealings with. Sometimes I thought people like Elsie Garcia ran our country. It couldn’t be the politicians of either party. Don’t get me started on that. As the android in Balde Runner said: “I’ve seen things….”

Duke, fuckin Ashford!

Well, well! And he was coming to me for something he needed. I was going to relish this coming meeting and seeing Duke again. That evening, I went to the local library and fired up one of their PCs so my search would not be monitored. Sure enough, PeachState Holdings was listed, and under their website, I saw a listing and pictures of their CEO Duke and his top staff. His was a picture of power and arrogance. But not far under his was the picture of his VP for Public Relations. None other than Gail Rudenko-Ashford.

Gail looked as stunning as ever. Maybe not as good as when she had been the twenty-year-old sensation everyone called Simply Gail. Her actual name had been Galyna. I thought that would have been a perfect name for an East European model, but she had chosen a western name — get this: To be different!

And sure enough, when the PeachState Holdings entourage trooped into the large conference room, both Duke and his gorgeous wife were in the front of the line. I have to give it to Duke. He kept his composure as introductions were made and hands were shaken. Yeah, this was pre covid. We shook hands then.

Simply Gail, or Galyna, gave me a slight smirk as we locked gazes. Duke noticed, and I can’t deny it – I was glad he did. Making him sweat was my goal of the meeting. There were no snide comments, no smirking, or inuendoes. All I did was stay on the topic of the meeting by asking questions of the PeachTree Staff. My gaze went to all of them, not just to Duke. But from time to time, I would look at him or Gail. It was enough for them to know what has started long ago was not over.

‘You’re in my world now bitches!’ I thought inwardly as they tried to keep their cool.

There was no need for me to say anything untoward or threatening. They both knew what was expected of them. They had to, what with our past and all. We all knew where this was going, but I had to be careful. The meeting was being taped. Every word I said could come back to me. So I waited until the meeting was near the end.

“That wraps it up for the day. The FTC ruling on the matter will be made public on our website sometime next month. Thanks, everyone.”

My staff and Dukes began to stand, and I walked out with them to the hallway. Duke was smart enough to dismiss his staff as I waited for him to. When the hallway cleared, it was only the three of us – Duke, myself and Gail.

“Where are you staying? I asked.

“The Four Seasons in 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue. Do you know…”

“Oh, you would stay there,” it was the most expensive place in town. All the upper-crust stayed there so they could be seen. “And I know where it is.”

“Why do you ask?” Duke said with controlled apprehension.

“So I know where the three of us are having dinner tonight.”

“We have plans,” Duke said, trying to use the voice on me.

You know “the voice.” The one influential people use on those they see as beneath them. It’s a mixture of gentility and scorn all in one. It says I am too refined to demean you openly but am too above you to waste time on you.

“That’s OK,” I replied. “You can go. Galyna will go to diner with me. Won’t you dear?”

She flinched at my using her old country name. But she did not protest. Instead, she looked at Duke with a resigned look. The look on his face, I had seen before.

“There is no 96,000 dollar necklace tonight, Duke,” I said to remind him of what he had offered my ex-wife for sex. Then I leaned in close for only him to hear. “But there WILL be a pearl necklace. You get my drift, don’t you?”

He gave me this hateful look but didn’t say anything to stop Gail/Galyna from leaving with me. On the way there, I had called Tasha to let her know I would be busy with work that night and that I would see her the next day. This had been long coming, and I would not pass it up.

Gail and I had dinner on her husband’s dime and chatted. Before we did, I had her give me her phone and purse, giving it to our waiter to keep safe until I requested it. She never protested or complained.

“You seem to have landed on your feet Brett,” she observed.

“Hard work, good friends and luck,” I replied as I refilled her glass. “And before you try guilt to make me excuse you for the night, it won’t work.”

“You have become a hard person.”

“Yes, I have become the person you, Duke and my ex-wife made me,” I responded coldly. “Your husband is lucky I didn’t make him watch. But the price of what he wants from me is you. Let’s see if he wants the money that this ruling will make him bad enough. You know he can still come here and stop me. Stop you.”

“I am only doing it because you are making me to,” she replied.

“Bullshit. How do you say bullshit in Ukranian anyway?” I asked mockingly, but she tried to ignore me. “You are doing it because you are going to make something happen for you and Duke that he can not. Only you can. And in doing so, you have the power, and he does not.

“You want to have sex with me because I have the power, and you are drawn to it like a moth to a flame Galyna.

“You want to make sure you stay away from Rudka near the Dneiper River. That poor little house and small town you came from. You want to make sure that you can never be poor again. Oh yes, I have researched you, Galyna Rudenko. I understand your motivation and respect it. Not enough to let you off the hook. But more so than that slime of a husband you have.

“I want Duke to know that until the decision is made, you will be my personal whore.”

“How long.”

“A month.”

“How? I have to see our kids. I can’t stay here.”

“Oh, I didn’t say all the time, Galyna. We will work on a schedule. Tomorrow, you tell Duke that you will rent a villa out in Merryland for you and the kids. Do you have a nanny you trust to bring along?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Later you can have your phone to call the kids.”

***

Somehow I managed to juggle three women in the process of that month without being fucked to death by them. I went to San Diego to see my son and Meredith twice. Knowing it was my time with her, Roger went to my old place with whichever woman he lined up as Meredith, and I played house.

On those weekends, I cut Gail/Galyna loose to take the kids and her used self back to her husband in Atlanta. I sent her back with a full tank both times, fucking her right before her flight home, not allowing her to clean herself. I wanted Duke to have evidence of what I was doing to his wife.

What good is having power and not using it, right? Duke wanted something from me, and I took my government time giving it to him. He deserved it. I saw him once when Duke came to my place to pick Gail up. She was getting ready as he and I chatted by his Escalade.

“You know,” he said, trying to be snide. “Lori works for me.”

I knew that but kept silent. My ex was running Duke’s HR department.

“I still fuck her. More so lately. She still squirms and tells me I’m bigger than you are.”

I nodded and made a note to adjust his insolence.

“You just added a week to Gail’s stay in DC,” I replied. “And when you bring her back, I want you to watch.”

“The hell I will!”

“Then I should rule on your request against you now. Is that what you want? Think of all the profit you will miss out on. And then Gail will have put out for me for nothing. What do you think she will think of you then, Duke?”

This time he kept his mouth shut. Unlike me, Duke was willing to do anything for the financial gain he wished.

“Give my ex-wife my best. Who calls themself Duke anyway? You don’t look like John Wayne. Oh, there’s Gail. She looks stunning, considering what I was doing to her less than 30 minutes ago.”

“Are you boys behaving?” she said with a smirk at us both.

Simply Gail or Galyna was enjoying herself and her husband’s discomfort a little too much by this point in our arrangement. As if there is such a thing.

“I left her tank full for you,” I whispered in his ear.

***

The month went by too quickly for me. Slowly for Gail/Galyna. I had stopped calling her Gail. Reminding her where she was from was a good control tool. And she and her husband came from a world where only control and power mattered. I lived in that world as well in Washington. As Obi-Wan said in Starwars IV, “You never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” He meant the mythical space-port of Moss Eisley, but take my word for it. Washington D.C. is no different.

The thing is that even after the five-week month ended, Gail would find a way to show up in DC to “visit.” Between her, Meredith and Tasha, I was burning the candle at three ends. Tasha was getting most of me when I was in DC. But Galyna was and remained a treat to behold.

I saw Duke in the end. He looked different to me. I could say he was broken, but he was too much a survivor for that. Let’s just say he was momentarily humbled. He probably spent the following years plotting his revenge against me. But by the point I used his wife as my whore as he had done to mine, I had amassed a circle of influential friends to shield me from scum like Ashford.

One of those friends was the good Senator Margaret Morison. And she became President Morison. Her list of friends surpassed Duke Ashford’s by a mile.