Decisions, Consequences and Tolstoy

Another big thank you to Blackrandl1958 for her editing and patience.

“Stee-rike three!” Umpire Billy Golden cried out in his booming baritone to end the top half of the third inning at tiny Admiral Fetterman Field in Pensacola, FL, home of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Double A affiliate of the Miami Marlins.

By orders from above, Scout Sam Kasper was in his usual seat at “The Admiral” to check on the progress of the Marlins’ No. 1 draft pick of two years ago, Davie “Golden Eagle” Boyd. This was the second trip the scout had made to Pensacola this season. Seems the big club was hoping that last year’s bonus baby would be up to “The Show” by September, and they trusted the opinion of no one more than Kasper, who had been scouting for them for 18 years.

Boyd, hitting a solid.286 with 12 homers and 36 runs batted in through the middle part of June, was so far justifying the $1.75 million bonus the Marlins had paid him when they signed him last year, Kasper thought. The 6-4, 240-pound 24-year-old could hit for average, hit for power, field his first base position and run like the wind, Kasper thought, making him perhaps one notch down from the potential of the Angel’s Mike Trout, who most people acknowledged as the game’s greatest player.

Boyd oozed confidence as he swaggered up to the plate as the third batter of the inning for Pensacola. His long, wavy blond hair trailed out from underneath his batting helmet; his large biceps and triceps filled the short sleeves of his uniform.

Virtually all of the women in the tiny ballpark sat up straighter and paid more attention to the batter. Home attendance was up this year, particularly among women.

Kasper had his pad and pen out to record the at-bat and his observation of it. He might have been the only man in the ballpark to be paying more attention to the batter than the women.

With the bases empty and one out, Boyd ran the count full, then took a 96 mile-per-hour fastball over the wall in left field. The ballpark erupted in cheering. Kasper was scribbling furiously while grinning from ear-to-ear. It was on his recommendation that the Marlins made Boyd their top pick.

Boyd added a run-scoring single later in the game as the Blue Wahoos won 4-2. Kasper wrote some more notes in his pad and then headed for the Wahoos’ locker room to talk with Boyd and the Wahoos’ manager.

Alyssa Graber and Traci Strickland were sitting in a corner table at La Scala, an upscale restaurant, each eating a piece of cheesecake and drinking a shot of Galliano. The two 30-somethings were well-dressed and seemed to fit in well with their surroundings.

Davie Boyd and Arturo Gonzalez were completely out of place the minute they walked in. They had gone to the restaurant to celebrate that afternoon’s victory, and were shown to a table in the middle of the restaurant.

“Ooh, I’ll take that blond specimen over there,” Traci said, indicating Davie.

Alyssa followed Traci’s eyes to the pair of ballplayers.

“Oh, please. The two of them probably haven’t read a book between them since ‘Sally, Dick and Jane’. Ten bucks says they both order burgers,” Alyssa said.

“Deal. You know them?” Traci asked.

“I only know that they’re two members of the local baseball team. Your fantasy boy there is their bonus baby. Got a big deal to sign.”

“Hmmm. Good looking and rich. That’s always a nice combination,” Traci said, a slow smile spreading across her face as the pair of athletes looked over at the women.

“Doesn’t it bother you that they are probably young enough to be… our kid brothers?” Alyssa asked.

“I don’t want to buy one, just rent one for a while,” Traci said as she flashed her perfect white teeth in the direction of the players.

“Would you look at that?” Davie gushed to Arturo. “A pair of MILFs just waiting for some company.”

Davie, as the player with the big contract and the bonus, was buying as he usually did when he went out with his teammates. He called the waitress over and asked her to take two more drinks to the women at the corner table.

“You do know that both of those women are married, and the one with the shorter hair is the wife of Mayor Richard Strickland?” questioned the waitress.

“That’s okay,” Davie answered. “I just want to buy them a drink, not rent one for the evening.”

The waitress smiled and did as she was asked. The players watched the waitress deliver the drinks, then tipped their own drinks at the women. The women tipped their drinks back.

The players ate their burgers while watching the women talk.

“Damn boy, aren’t you already fucking that cute little blonde thing?” Arturo asked.

“What’s your point, Artie? We’re fuckbuddies, not married. Besides, there’s nothing better than married pussy. I’m teaching Blondie how to fuck, but I’d bet those MILFs could teach us how to fuck. They’ve been fucking for years, and my experience says that right about now they could use some strange.”

“I didn’t realize you had a degree in MILFs. My hat is off to you, Professor.”

Both ballplayers chuckled.

Alyssa was the wife of a banker. She was 36, with long blonde hair, a pretty face with blue eyes and a curvy body. Her partner at the table was 35, with shoulder-length dark brown hair, small boobs but a round bubble butt under her slightly too-tight, slightly too-short skirt. The mayor’s wife knew she still had what it took to get a man’s attention, and wasn’t as shy about showing it off as the mayor would have liked her to be.

“By the way, you owe me $10,” Alyssa noted.

The players finished their burgers before leaving to approach the women’s table.

“Would you two like some company for a while?” Davie asked.

“Who do you have in mind for us?” Traci sassed.

Davie only missed a short beat with the response. He was a skilled pro at back and forth with women, and recognized Traci’s response as the first salvo. He decided Arturo could have the quieter one.

“Well, since you’re the one with the saucy tongue, I was thinking of myself. Arturo here is more of a gentleman. I think he would be good company for your friend. By the way, I’m Davie. Arturo and I play for the Blue Wahoos, the Double A baseball team in town.”

“I’m Traci and my friend is Alyssa. I guess we can do some intelligent conversation for a while, if you can manage that. Arturo looks like he can handle that… maybe he can cover for both of you.”

“Wow. Ouch,” Davie said.

The four enjoyed each other’s company for a second drink and about two hours. Before they split up, Davie asked for and got Traci’s phone number.

“Did you really just give him your number?” Alyssa asked incredulously. “You do remember you are a married woman?”

“A little flirting, maybe a little more, won’t hurt anybody. I can tell he’s a player. I’m just going to play along with him a little,” Traci laughed.

“As long as you know what you’re doing,” Alyssa commented.

Heading off in the other direction, Arturo asked Davie, “You tossing Blondie to the curb?”

“What makes you think I’d do something stupid like that?” Davie answered. “It’s not like Blondie and Traci hang in the same circles or anything.”

“As long as you know what you’re doing,” Arturo said.

“Blondie,” as the two Wahoo players referred to her, was in reality a 20-year-old Pensacola native named Jenna Wyatt. She showed up outside the team’s locker room after the team’s opener, and she and Davie had been an item since. The pair had been having sex two to three times a week for the last month.

Jenna was hardly an innocent townie. Although she was just two years out of high school, her “number” was already in the low double digits. She was a young woman with a big sexual appetite and wasn’t shy about going after what she wanted. At this time, what she wanted was the town’s stud baseball player.

Jenna was waiting for Davie the next day after the game, wearing a tight black short-sleeved blouse with tight skinny jeans that accentuated her tight ass, Davie thought as he spied Jenna. They left the park and went to the house Davie was renting after stopping to pick up a pizza.

After demolishing the pizza and a couple of beers apiece, Davie and Jenna retreated to the master bedroom and the king-size bed. Halfway to the bed, Davie looked deeply into Jenna’s hazel eyes and kissed her hard, attempting to suck her tonsils from her mouth into his. Jenna’s knees buckled before Davie laid her down on her back on the bed. He gently rubbed a hand over both of her smallish but perky boobs before his fingers walked down to her waiting, very wet pussy.

Davie gently rubbed his hand up and down on first one lip, then the other as Jenna wriggled on the bed. He slid in one finger, finding the rough patch inside her vagina, then slid in a second, then a third. Just when Jenna’s moans started to intensify into shrieks, Davie ran his fingers up to and around her clitoris, pushing the young woman into an explosive orgasm. Davie stroked her completely through the climax before giving her a few seconds of rest. He then repeated the process starting with his fingers inside her pussy, and a second orgasm came soon after.

While Jenna was recovering, Davie changed positions so the pair was in a 69. He took his dick in his fingers and slapped the young woman on the cheek, making her reflexively open her mouth to engulf his flesh. When that happened, he licked as deeply inside Jenna’s pussy as he could reach. As she started to orgasm yet again, he sucked in some of her inner flesh into his mouth, and the orgasm went from big to an earthquake. Jenna screamed, wrapped her legs hard around Davie’s head and bucked into his face.

When Jenna came back to consciousness, Davie had pulled his head back a bit to get some fresh air. His hard dick was languishing in her mouth, until she re-started her oral ministrations. Five minutes later, Davie shot a huge load of semen into Jenna’s mouth, most of which she was able to swallow.

When his breathing returned to normal, Davie grabbed a towel from the bathroom, dried his face and went into the kitchen for another two beers. He and Jenna took their time drinking the cold liquid, then returned to the bed for round two. Jenna took Davie’s dick in her hand, had him hard in almost no time and he quickly crawled between her legs. Jenna wrapped her legs around Davie’s core and the pair stayed that way through Jenna’s final orgasm. Davie then disengaged and pulled Jenna up to all fours before re-inserting his hard dick. He started slow but was soon pounding the young woman for all he was worth, until he felt Jenna starting to tire. He came soon afterward, nearly driving the woman off the bed before he was finished.

Traci didn’t recognize the phone number that came up on her phone display at first. Then she remembered she gave her number to that young ballplayer four days ago. She chuckled out loud. She didn’t think he would actually call since he knew she was married. He was either incredibly cheeky or incredibly stupid, she thought as she hit the answer button.

“Davie, how have you been?” Traci answered in her sweetest tone.

“Been pretty good, Traci. I was just sitting here in my room thinking about tonight’s game when you popped into my mind, and I figured I’d call.”

“Are you at home or on the road?” Traci said, catching Davie somewhat by surprise that she even knew about road trips. From their conversation the other night, Davie got the impression she knew very little about the sport, and cared for it even less.

“We’re in Birmingham. Be back home in a few days. I was hoping maybe we could catch a quick dessert and drink Thursday evening, if you’re not doing anything. You can bring hubby if you’d like. I’d like to meet the mayor. Never met one officially before. I bet you two are quite the power couple.”

Traci detected a note of sarcasm in Davie’s voice. She knew he didn’t want her husband joining them, but was impressed Davie had enough intelligence to play the game. Traci was intrigued.

“He’s got a council meeting Thursday night, but I’d be pleased to join you, young man,” Traci answered, throwing in the identifier as her way of playing the game.

The two got to know each other better over glasses of Amaretto di Saranno and slices of cheesecake. Traci kept the conversation neutral, letting Davie pick the direction of the evening. He waited about 20 minutes before turning the discourse to more of an intimate nature.

“You’re a beautiful woman. Doesn’t your husband mind that you occasionally meet men for drinks?” Davie asked.

“Sometimes I meet men. Sometimes I meet women. I have a varied group of friends in my social circle. My husband knows that. He also knows that he can trust me, despite the fact that he knows I am a bit of a flirt.”

“A bit of a flirt?” Davie commented. “I’d take a bit of a flirt. How far does that flirting go?”

“How far would you like it to go?” Traci responded.

A grin slowly spread across Davie’s face. He reached across the table with both hands. Traci put her hands in his.

Evan McComb watched the cute blonde kind of bounce her way to the counter at the Starbucks from a table near the back of the store. He noted the light freckles across the bridge of her turned-up nose and the light in her hazel eyes. He also noted that her miniskirt was only halfway down her shapely thighs. He knew she came in on a regular basis, and was waiting for her. It took him about a month to work up the courage to finally talk to her.

He got up from his table and lingered near the door waiting. As she approached, Evan made his move, introducing himself to her. Surprised at first, the young woman responded positively to Evan’s introduction. She had seen him before in the shop, and was impressed with his good looks and the way he fit his suits. The two wandered back to the table Evan had left, and talked for about five minutes before Jenna said she had to get back to her job. Evan handed the young woman his phone so she could put her number in his contacts.

Evan practically floated back to his job as an accountant. His co-workers noted the usually unexpressive CPA seemed to be humming as he moved around the office. About 4 in the afternoon, his boss, Phil Cunningham, walked into Evan’s office and wanted to know if he had won the lottery.

“Got the phone number of the future Mrs. Evan McComb earlier today!” Evan declared.

Phil had been Evan’s boss for two years. He liked the younger man, but he had never known him to talk so positively about his relationship with a woman, especially when the two of them hadn’t even been out on a date yet.

Evan called Jenna the next day. They set up a date for dinner at one of Evan’s favorite seafood restaurants for the coming Saturday night.

Evan gasped audibly when Jenna answered her apartment door in her version of a little black dress. His quick scan revealed that she was braless under the thin material as her nipples were visibly erect, and it came down to only a couple of inches past her round ass. Evan thought that she would have to be very careful when she sat.

“So can I take that as a sound of approval, or are you starting to have an asthma attack?” Jenna offered.

“Definitely a sound of approval. But now I’m worried because I didn’t bring a baseball bat with me to fight off the guys making passes at you.”

Jenna giggled, and Evan was pretty sure it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.

The two had a great dinner and great conversation. It was natural that Jenna found herself comparing Evan to Davie throughout the evening. While Davie won on most of the physical aspects, Jenna found that Evan was far from a troll, and she had to admit to herself that she seemed to “click” on many more levels with him than Davie. Still, she and Evan didn’t talk about their dating others as this was just their first date. Maybe sometime in the future they would have to have that discussion, but for right now they were both just enjoying being with each other.

The evening ended with a chaste kiss at Jenna’s door.

The next evening didn’t end with a chaste kiss at Jenna’s door. Jenna and Davie exchanged a deep, passionate kiss, then moved inside for what turned into a long evening of carnal fun. After some quick foreplay, the naked lovers made their way to Jenna’s bed, where Davie took the young blonde first missionary and then doggy. As usual, Jenna got off several times on Davie’s cock. Evan was a long way away from her thoughts.

Traci was pleased with the way her relationship was going with the young athlete. He was more educated and well-read than she anticipated, and they enjoyed one outing at a near-by museum and another at an art show opening. The pair had run into several friends of Traci and her husband at the art show, and Davie was surprised at how unperturbed Traci seemed to be at being seen in public with him.

While Traci appeared to be as conservative as her husband, she knew that in another time and place, she could easily have been a wilder woman. Her only outward admission to that was her inclination to flirt and a small tattoo on her left wrist, which was usually hidden under several bracelets.

None of Traci’s women friends seemed upset or surprised at her being with the young athlete, although the pairing did raise some eyebrows among the women’s husbands. Virtually all of her friends knew Traci was a notorious flirt, but to her men friends, this seemed to be a little more over the top.

Several of those men wondered how much her husband, the mayor, knew about her latest flirtation. In reality, Mayor Richard Strickland knew very little of his wife’s most recent activities. Despite her penchant for carrying her flirting a bit too far for his taste, he had always trusted his wife to draw a line in the sand at the right point.

Traci was the well-kept wife of a successful attorney for the first 11 years of the couple’s marriage, before the lawyer decided a little more than two years ago he needed to become mayor of the small city in which they resided.

At 41, Richard was six years older than his wife, but like her, gave the appearance of being younger. His short brown here showed no sign of graying, and his regular time spent at the gym gave him a toned and somewhat muscular physique. He was a good-looking man, most agreed, although not nearly on a par with his beautiful wife.

It wasn’t much of a contest in the fall election, with Richard garnering about two-thirds of the vote. It seemed most of his constituents were confident that he would bring the same strong work ethic to the mayor’s office that he had to his career as an attorney.

As with most mayors, Richard had plenty of meetings to attend, and probably hadn’t spent as much time at his job since early in his career with the law firm. Some of his friends wondered if he was spending too much time mayoring at the expense of his marriage, especially when they saw Traci out with Davie.

Traci was the executive director of a non-profit in the city. The job was only about 30 hours each week, which gave her flexibility to have a social life and yet still be a presence in the community. It was not uncommon for Traci to have several lunches out each week in the presence of some of the more influential business leaders in the community.

In recent weeks, Traci and Davie had begun exchanging light kisses in public. Traci noticed that in some company that hardly raised an eyebrow. She started to become a little more liberal in touching Davie on his arms and chest as well. As she continually felt the moisture in her panties when she was around the young man, she knew it was just a matter of time before Davie became her first lover. Although she admitted to herself she knew it was wrong, her growing lust for the young man was quelling her feelings of guilt. While she truly loved her husband deep in her heart, her lustful feelings had her considering that this was something that she was owed.

Jenna wasn’t feeling any guilt as she lay entwined in Evan’s arms after the pair had just engaged in their first evening of sex. Evan had just given her a half-dozen orgasms with his fingers, mouth and dick. Jenna smiled to herself with satisfaction as she had just had great sex with two different men on consecutive days. Neither man had ever discussed exclusivity, and Jenna was going to enjoy what both men were offering until some sort of a decision needed to be made.

Mayor Richard Strickland and three other men were sitting in a darkened corner in the only high-end Hungarian restaurant in the city. They were working out details on financing for a distribution center that was negotiating to come to the city. The distribution center could potentially bring in several hundred jobs and tax revenue into the city. He needed to be heavily focused on the meeting.

That focus wavered a bit, however, when he saw his wife accompanied by the city’s Double A baseball star glide in to the restaurant and get accompanied to a table on the other side of the eatery.

“This one’s a good-looking, big son of a bitch,” the mayor thought to himself. “She’s getting a little brazen these days.”

He gave himself another five seconds to think about what he saw, then tuned back into the meeting.

What Mayor Strickland didn’t see was the tight black miniskirt Traci was wearing, something she had bought special for Davie. She was obviously braless under her silky black blouse.

Davie was more animated than Traci had seen him before. He was today’s hero with two homers, three hits and three RBI, he told Traci. She had no idea what the handsome young man was talking about, but she knew it was something good based upon his smile, his animation and the light in his eyes. She knew that tonight she would take their relationship to a new level.

Davie mellowed throughout the meal, and Traci watched the transformation with quiet pride, feeling that she had a hand in shaping this young man’s personality.

“How about we get dessert to go?” Traci asked, giving him her beautiful trademark smile. “Richard won’t be home until about midnight. That gives us not quite three hours to eat that dessert.”

“Fuck yeah,” Davie enthused.

Traci’s miniskirt was off within 15 seconds of her getting inside Davie’s house. He marveled at her tight ass in the small, tight bikini panties she wore. He pulled the older women toward him, placed both hands on her ass and pulled her in for an open-mouth kiss. She moaned into his mouth as he slid his large hands into her panties.

Davie squeezed both ass cheeks as he kept his mouth tightly on Traci’s. He lifted her by those cheeks and carried her into the bedroom before laying her down on her back on his bed. He kneeled down on the floor by the bed, placed her legs over his shoulders and started licking up along her slit. Traci writhed on the bed, trying to slide down a little closer to Davie’s face, and when he realized that, Davie leaned in closer and licked deeper. Thirty seconds later, Traci exploded on Davie’s face. The young man choked a bit on Traci’s fluids, then swallowed and came up laughing. He leaned in again, this time sucking on Traci’s clit and causing the woman to squirt.

Traci’s brain was completely scrambled by the torturously great feelings flowing through her pussy. She was confused by the liquid she felt, never having squirted before. She heard some high-pitched squealing, then realized it was coming from her mouth.

Davie had had his share of women in his short adult life but had never made one squirt before. He pulled his head back, shook it side to side, let out a shriek of his own and dove back in. He got two more strong orgasms out of Traci, then stood up and removed her blouse, revealing her small but perky tits. He squeezed her nipples until she gasped, then he straightened up, rubbed his hard dick up and down her wet lips and plunged inside in two quick strokes. She gasped and then wriggled to get more comfortable on Davie’s dick, which felt noticeably bigger and thicker than her husband’s.

Davie started out slowly, pulling almost all the way out and pushing all the way in. Traci’s body responded to his slow stroking, and she had another orgasm after about five minutes, her pussy walls gripping Davie like a glove. He concentrated on baseball to slow himself down, then when he regained his physical composure, he started picking up speed. Traci was verbalizing loudly, and after another few minutes screamed her way through yet another orgasm as Davie pounded her pussy.

Traci’s last orgasm pushed Davie over the edge, and he came with a roar of his own. As he and Traci lay painting, they had almost the same thought: that was the best sex ever.

Richard Strickland half walked, half staggered into his house at 12:30 a.m., feeling like the conquering hero. His presence and work had just helped secure a distribution center for his city, creating a lot of jobs and tax revenue. The deal was sealed over a fine meal and a lot of drinks at the city’s high-end Hungarian restaurant, Magyar’s.

Now as he slowly made his way up the stairs, he remembered what he had briefly seen while in the restaurant: his wife in the presence of the city’s star ballplayer, Davie Boyd. As the executive director of one of the city’s larger non-profits, Traci could have been with the player for any number of legit reasons, but had that been the case, his very organized wife would have told him beforehand. He didn’t remember any conversation in which she told him she would be meeting Boyd.

Richard knew his wife was a major flirt and had the goods to back it up, but he also trusted that her flirting was just that and nothing more. From time to time during his 10 years of marriage, he had his doubts, but every time he did some checking, Traci had come up innocent. He was hoping that was the case this time.

Traci was the smartest paralegal Richard had ever hired at his law firm, Atterbury Salerno Strickland LLP. They had started dating a year later, and were married a year after that. She left the law firm right after the pair started dating, and started working for the non-profit a few months after she and Richard were married.

Richard was 31 when the two married. He had been involved in two previous long-term relationships before dating Traci. He was a handsome, successful lawyer, and finding women to date was never a problem.

Traci’s flirtatious nature was an occasional bone of contention in the couple’s marriage. Her husband had repeatedly told her that in “their place” in the city’s society, her flirting was very disrespectful for him.

“Come on, Richie. You know I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just me having some fun,” Traci had said.

“Please think about my feelings occasionally, Traci,” Richard had replied.

Richard slowly undressed in the darkness of the bedroom so he wouldn’t wake his wife. He slowly got under the covers and snuggled up to Traci, first sniffing her skin and then her hair. The smell of soap and shampoo was still strong, meaning she had showered before she went to bed sometime earlier. Since Traci normally didn’t shower before bed, Richard knew that his wife was no longer his alone. He turned around in bed so his back was to his wife. A tear escaped an eye as he drifted off to sleep.

“So who are you dating now, Girlfriend?” Shayla Williamson asked her longtime friend, Jenna Wyatt, as the two were finishing lunch.

Jenna blushed deeply, wondering if she should tell her friend the truth about seeing two guys on a regular basis. She wondered why she felt guilty about that, since neither she nor either of the men discussed being exclusive. Maybe it was because Shayla had known her long enough to know that at 20, Jenna was a long way from being a virgin.

Shayla saw the deep blush and knew exactly what it meant.

“So I’m assuming it’s not who, but how many,” Shayla giggled. “Come on, spill.”

Jenna looked down at the floor before facing her friend. She told her about Davie and Evan.

“Wait. You’re dating that hunk of a ballplayer? What’s that like?” Shayla asked.

“He’s everything you see,” Jenna answered. “He’s big, he’s got muscles, he’s got money, he’s great looking. And he’s terrific in bed. But it’s this other guy that’s got me twisted up. Not quite as big, not quite as muscular, definitely not the money. But he’s also handsome and good in bed and I don’t know… there’s something about him that gets me going in a way that Davie doesn’t. We can talk about anything, and he’s just fun to be around. And I miss him when I’m alone. I don’t miss Davie like that when I’m alone. Does that make sense?”

“That sounds suspiciously like love, Baby Girl,” Shayla said. “You need to see if you can lock him up before he goes on to someone else. The baseball player may be fun, but love is golden. Stake your claim quickly, Jenna.”

Jenna looked directly into her friend’s eyes. She could see that Shayla was dead serious.

“Sometimes when Davie calls, I know that he just wants to fuck me,” Jenna admitted. “Evan wants to be with me. The sex is extra.”

“And there’s your answer to that question, Jenna.”

Despite that conversation, Jenna didn’t hesitate to say yes when Davie called and set up a date for two days later. He sent over a ticket to the game, and the two were to go out after.

Evan and his friend, Scott Segura, had good tickets to the Wahoos’ Thursday night game. When Davie Boyd slugged a two-run homer in the sixth inning, the ballpark erupted in cheering. Evan, sitting about five rows up from the Wahoos’ first base dugout, thought he heard a familiar voice above the din. Sitting three rows in front of him, in the row right behind the dugout where family and friends of the players sat, was Jenna. She was dressed nicely, but seemed to be sitting by herself.

Evan didn’t say anything to his friend, but he continued to watch Jenna for the next few innings. He noticed Davie got up and looked directly at the young blonde woman several times, and she seemed to wave in his direction once or twice.

Evan wasn’t born yesterday, and he knew what he was looking at. He was unsettled, but as she sat in the stands thinking about it, he realized that neither he nor Jenna had ever made a commitment to being exclusive. He realized that was something he would need to rectify, if she wasn’t already an item with the ballplayer.

Evan pointed out Jenna to his friend and told him their story to date. When the game was over, the two men surreptitiously watched the young woman. When Davie exited the ballpark, Jenna practically jumped into his strong arms and the two got into Davie’s new Porsche.

Traci never noticed the nondescript black sedan that followed her to the parking lot of the Italian restaurant. The driver of that vehicle parked close enough to take photos and see her enter the restaurant, several minutes before Davie entered. He opened a thick Clive Cussler book, knowing he had at least an hour’s reading.

Dinner took a little longer for the pair on this night. They came out of the restaurant holding hands, then each got into their own cars and drove to Davie’s house. The sedan followed both cars at a discreet distance. The driver took photos of Traci pulling her car into the home’s garage.

Traci and Davie headed up to his bedroom within minutes of arriving at his house. Her short blue dress wound up in a pile on the floor of the bedroom, along with a blue garter belt and stockings. The sex was once again epic, both agreed.

Three hours and 120 pages later, Traci’s car left Davie’s garage. The man in the black sedan took photos as she drove past his car, her hair disheveled and her makeup gone. He then drove over to Mayor Richard Strickland’s office and waited for the council meeting to break up before going in to see the mayor.

Mark Garton, private investigator, waited until the mayor was completely alone before knocking on his office door. The mayor acknowledged the man as he entered the office.

“His bedroom is on the second floor, so I haven’t been able to get actual photos of the two of them going at it, but judging by the way she looked both before and after entering the player’s home, only an idiot or a puritan would think they weren’t having sex. And from what you’ve told me about her late showers… well, it’s a done deal in my opinion.”

“Thank you, Mr. Garton,” Mayor Strickland said as he handed the PI a check for his services.

After the investigator left the office, the mayor put his head in his hands and cried like a baby.

Breakfast at the Stricklands’ house the next morning was a quiet affair, although Traci was most certainly in a good mood, humming as she moved around the kitchen. Richard looked stricken as he ate at the kitchen table.

“You don’t look very good, Dear. We’ve got some Alka-Seltzer in the bathroom if your stomach isn’t doing good,” Traci said.

“I’ve got a gun in my gun safe that would make me feel better, too,” the mayor thought to himself.

Traci didn’t see the signs that the mayor had more than a clue as to what she had been up to. She had always considered herself smarter than her husband, forgetting that her husband’s more passive behavior was no reflection on his intelligence.

Traci believed she truly loved her husband, but at this point she believed she deserved her dalliance with the young ballplayer. Her husband was adequate in bed, she thought, but Davie was at least a good two steps up… and she deserved that. She knew what she was doing was technically wrong, but it was so good that she didn’t feel guilty. She knew it was cliché, but her affair truly was just about great sex. When it was over, she would go back to being the loving, doting wife.

Richard watched his wife moving around the kitchen and humming merrily with growing anger. He noted that he and Traci hadn’t been intimate in about a month. Prior to that, they had been having sex two to three times each week, and Richard didn’t think they had a problem in that department.

As with many families, the wife’s agenda drove the household. The pair hadn’t had a good discussion on children prior to their nuptials, but about two years after getting married, Traci decided she didn’t want children. She and Richard had several intense discussions on the topic, but in the end, Traci got her way and Richard got a vasectomy.

In between her job and dating two men at the same time, Jenna didn’t realize that Evan hadn’t called her for a week. Halfway through a fuck session with Davie the next week, it suddenly dawned on Jenna that she hadn’t heard from her other suitor. Davie didn’t miss the fact that the young woman was suddenly distracted.

“Earth to Jenna. Come in Jenna,” Davie suddenly blurted out from behind her as he plowed into her doggy style. Jenna had stopped moving her hips back into him as he fucked her hard, and Davie realized that for maybe the first time in his adult life, a woman had gotten distracted during sex with him.

“H-e-e-l-l-o-o!” Davie called out again.

Jenna snapped to attention at that moment, realizing that she was somewhere else mentally for some time. She quickly got back into rhythm with Davie, and the young man started pumping her harder, causing her to have her third orgasm of the session. When her wits came back to her, however, her thoughts again turned to Evan. She remembered her friend’s warning.

It was too late for Jenna to call Evan when she got home, but she called him the next day during her lunch hour. It was the first time she ever had to call the young accountant.

“Did I do something wrong, Evan?” Jenna asked when Evan answered on the third ring.

Evan carefully weighed what he considered his two options: tell Jenna he knew about her dating Davie, or just let the relationship drop. There was silence on the line for about 10 seconds.

“Jenna, I know you’re dating both that star baseball player and me. I know we’ve never had the exclusivity talk, but I can’t abide by you dating… and I’m sure, sleeping with… two guys at the same time. I know I don’t have his money, and I’m not a big rugged guy, but I want to be the one and only in your life. I want to find out if there is more to us…”

Jenna’s eyes widened on her end of the call, although Evan couldn’t see them. She stammered for a second before responding affirmative.

“How about we celebrate our new arrangement this Saturday night?” Evan said.

Jenna didn’t stammer this time, crying out quickly, “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

A few days later, Davie called Jenna for a date. She politely turned him down, telling him that she was now dating another man exclusively.

“Well, that’s great for you, but that doesn’t have to affect us, does it?” Davie asked. “I mean, we weren’t looking for Brad and Angelina. We were just having some fun. Can’t that continue while you date this guy?”

“I’m sorry, Davie. Evan’s not that kind of guy,” Jenna said. “And I won’t cheat when I make a commitment. I’ve had a great time with you, but I guess we’re over.”

“Well, okay, but if you ever change your mind, you’ve got my number.”

“Love you, Davie. I hope you have a big career.”

Sam Kasper got the honor of telling Davie about his September call-up to the major league Miami Marlins. He showed up at Fetterman Field a few minutes before game time one afternoon in late August.

“Hey, Bubba, my name is Opportunity, and I’m knocking,” Sam said when he walked up to Davie in the Wahoos’ locker room.

“Seriously, Mr. K?” Davie said with great enthusiasm.

The older man smiled and nodded

“Fuck yeah! I’m answering!” Davie screamed as his teammates gathered around in congratulations.

Davie’s call-up made the local news the next day. Richard Strickland read the story in the newspaper with interest. He still loved his wife, but was unsure of his next move. He gave his former law firm partner, Rick Salerno, a call.

A week after Davie was called up, Traci’s hormones were raging. She had been having sex with the ballplayer two or three times a week for the past six weeks, and the sudden dry spell was having an effect. She heard her husband in his office, and realized it had been quite some time since the two actually had sex. She tried to remember the last time, and came to the conclusion that she and Richard hadn’t been intimate since before she started having sex with Davie.

She and Richard used to have a vibrant sex life, Traci remembered. When had that gone away? When was the last time she and Richard even cuddled? Had she really become that distant?

For the first time since the affair started, Traci felt guilty.

In Miami, Davie, too, was missing the regular sex he had been having with both Traci and Jenna. The pitchers in the majors were having their way with the young player, and he hadn’t yet trawled any hotspots to pick up women.

“Hey, Babe. Could you maybe get away for a couple of days this weekend? I really miss what we had going,” Davie said when Traci answered her phone.

Traci’s panties immediately got moist.

“Oh, God, Davie. I’ve really missed you!” Traci practically gushed. “Tell me when, and I’ll be there!”

That evening when Richard got home, Traci told him she and Alyssa were going to take a few days in Miami to go shopping, if he didn’t mind. It was the kind of request Traci had asked and Richard had approved many times through the years. In this case, however, Richard never expected this ask, and he did his absolute best to conceal his shock. Was she this desperate for his cock that she was willing to assume her husband was completely clueless? Was it more than just his cock? How much betrayal, Richard wondered.

Richard tried to conceal the deep breath he needed to take, then acquiesced. Traci had just given him the final answer, he thought.

Traci took a cab from the airport to the apartment Davie was renting. She jumped into the younger man’s arms and planted a passionate kiss on his lips as soon as he opened the door. He returned her kiss for about 30 seconds, then placed her gently down.

“Oooh, I want you so bad right now, but I’ve got to get to the ballpark. This is the bigs, Babe! We’ll grab dinner when I get back. I am so glad you’re here! I am going to fuck you silly!” Davie exclaimed.

Traci felt more energized and alive than she had since Davie first left. She opened her suitcase and took out a sexy red baby doll and matching panties.

Maybe it was the thought of Traci waiting back at his apartment, or maybe it was just the first of many great nights to come, but Davie had a pair of hits including his first major league home run and had three runs batted in. He grabbed Chinese takeout on his way home and practically threw open his apartment door when he got home. Traci was stretched out on his sofa, one leg bent up, drinking a glass of wine. He put the bag of Chinese food on the kitchen table, and that’s where it remained for the next two hours before a weary and sweaty Davie and Traci finally got to it.

About the same time as Davie and Traci were squeezing into Davie’s shower the next morning, Richard was reviewing his divorce petition. It was a simple 50-50 split, but Richard was only going to pay alimony for five years, providing Traci was paying for her own housing and Davie wasn’t living with her. Richard knew it seemed childish to do it this way, but that was probably the only “win” he could get past the courts.

Evan was practically celebratory when he heard Davie was promoted to the major league team for September. He totally believed Jenna when she committed solely to him, but having Davie no longer living in town was still a great relief. For her part, Jenna understood that Davie being called up was a good thing for him, but since she had committed to Evan, she didn’t care that Davie was no longer in town.

Davie and Traci spent much of their three days together fucking and eating at several high-end Miami restaurants when Davie wasn’t playing ball. Davie noted that Traci’s skirts and dresses seemed to be a little shorter than she wore in Pensacola, and he thought the two of them made a dashing pair. Traci felt the eyes of other customers on them at the restaurants; some because of being with Davie and some because she knew she looked hot. She had to admit that life in Miami felt a lot sexier than life in Pensacola.

Traci felt relaxed as her taxi approached her darkened home. She was hopeful she wouldn’t have to talk to her husband too much until the next morning. She had showered earlier in the afternoon before she boarded her plane, so at the least she wouldn’t be going home with the smell of sex on her walking in the door.

Richard sat in his darkened living room with a full tumbler of bourbon watching the occupant of the taxi retrieve her bag from the driver in the driveway. He saw her walk up the two steps to the home’s front door, hesitate a moment, then put her key in the lock and enter the home, completely unaware of her husband watching her intently.

“Had to get yourself psyched for your boring old husband after spending three days fucking your millionaire stud ballplayer?” Richard asked firmly but quietly.

Traci startled, not realizing anyone was home in the darkened house.

“I-I-I,” Traci stammered, unable to form any cohesive sentences.

After jumping back about a foot, she stood rooted to the spot on which she was standing, barely able to see her husband in the darkness. In addition to being surprised by his presence and his accusation, she was also shocked at his use of the “f-bomb” directly at her. He had never used that kind of language to his wife before.

“I know exactly what you’re thinking,” he continued. “How did your stupid, clueless, cuckold husband find out about your trip… or about your lover in the first place?”

Richard took a drink while Traci stared at him in the darkness. While she and many others considered her smarter than her husband, she was caught completely by surprise and was speechless.

“Don’t worry, Alyssa didn’t give you up,” Richard snarked. “I knew you were going alone, but to confirm I called over to her house. When Glen answered the phone, I asked to speak to Alyssa… and he about fell through the floor trying not to lie to me but trying to tell me that she wasn’t there. That’s the problem with using a woman with a good and honest husband as your cover. I asked him not to tell Alyssa I called, so she wouldn’t call you to warn you. He felt obligated to keep my secret.”

Traci let out a slight gasp. Since she didn’t know exactly how much Richard knew, anything she might have said in her defense wouldn’t be prudent. Silence in this case was her best choice, Traci knew.

Richard also knew that, but the longer she stood there mute, the more angry he became.

“When did you lose respect for me, bitch? When did you stop loving me?” Richard hissed.

“I’ve never stopped loving you, Richard. This has nothing to do with love… well, maybe a little bit if I’m honest…”

“Wow. Honesty. What a fucking concept!” Richard shouted at his wife.

Richard took another gulp of his bourbon. Traci put down her suitcase and sat down in a chair.

“Okay if I turn a light on? I’d like to see you when I talk to you,” Traci said.

“No, you just want to see my eyes to see if I believe any of your lies,” Richard spat at her. “Be careful, bitch. “At this point I know about most of your charade. The only thing I don’t have nailed down is why.”

“I’m not sure if I can really answer that for you,” Traci said.

“Richie, you know I’m a big flirt. We’ve argued about this before. You’ve always been afraid that I would cross that line, and I always swore I never would. But I was wrong. Something about him got to me, Richie. I can’t explain it. He was sexy and sweet, and he just has that… ‘je ne sais quoi.’

“And the sex is… was… so good. And once we became a regular thing, I found out he’s more than just a ballplayer. He’s got brains to go along with his muscles and talent. I guess I got a little enamored…”

“More than a little, Traci,” Richard huffed. “And at the same time, you and I haven’t even had sex in about three months. I no longer excite you, but you can’t keep your hands off of this fucking kid. And then there was this weekend.

“Did you at least go to a game this weekend, whore, or was it all about fucking?”

“Do you really have to be so crude with me, Richard?” Traci said, while in her head trying to figure out exactly when the last time the pair did have sex.

She looked up to see Richard staring daggers at her.

“I was never crude to you when you were my wife. But now that you’re his whore, all bets are off,” Richard said.

“I’m still your wife, Richard. We need to talk and figure things out,” Traci said.

“No, we don’t need to talk,” Richard said. “I’ve already figured things out. I was figuring while you were fucking.”

“Really, Richie?”

“Fuck off, Traci.”

Traci rolled her eyes and pursed her lips, but this time kept her mouth shut.

“So what have you figured, Richard? How do you see this going?”

“Well, tomorrow you will be served divorce papers. You sign them, then 30 days or so later you get to go to your boy-toy permanently and I get a small measure of my self-respect back.”

“That’s certainly not how I see this going, Richard. I’m pretty sure we can work this out. Yeah, I made a mistake, but there’s no reason to take the nuclear option. Let’s slow down and re-think this.”

“What we have here is a failure to communicate,” Richard said in an imitation of Strother Martin’s great line from the movie, “Cool Hand Luke.”

Traci looked over at Richard with shock on her face. Polite, quiet, steady Richard seemed to be taking a possible divorce in a somewhat joking manner. What was going on here, she asked herself.

Richard had moved his clothes to the couple’s guest room. He went upstairs, into the room and locked the door. Traci sat downstairs with her brain working overtime. She never considered getting caught and what the consequences might be.

As Richard told her, Traci was served Monday morning. Even though Richard had forewarned her, she was pretty sure he would have called it off. The fact that he went through with the serving had Traci more than a little nervous. Events of the last two days had actually shown Traci a side of Richard she had never seen before.

Richard focused heavily on his mayoral duties over the next few days as a means of coping. It really wasn’t that hard, however, as he truly got a charge out of being the city’s mayor.

Traci was considerably less successful coping with what was happening in her life. She spent the remainder of her day Monday in a kind of a daze, and things didn’t get much better in the succeeding days.

On Thursday at about noon, she got a call from Davie.

“Hey, Beautiful, how are things? Miss me?” he inquired.

Traci’s heart raced when she first heard Davie’s voice. Then real life intruded into her thoughts.

“Richard knows about us, and has for some time,” she answered in a flat tone. “He knows about our weekend tryst as well. I got served Monday.”

“Richard as in your husband?” Davie asked almost rhetorically.

He got quiet on the line as his mind started to race.

“W-e-e-l-l-l… since he knows… why don’t you just come back down here and stay with me full time now,” Davie said. “In a few weeks we’ll be back in Pensacola anyway, at least for the winter. Then we’ll either get a place in Miami or Jacksonville, depending where I’m going to be next season.”

It was Traci’s turn to grow quiet.

“That is so the right answer!” she finally said with enthusiasm. “How about I come back to Miami on Saturday?”

“Great, Baby. I will see you then. Just text me the details.”

Traci put her phone away and sat quietly. In the span of a minute, she admitted to herself that while she might still love her husband, her feelings for Davie had grown enough that she was going to abandon Richard for the young ballplayer.

“I’m sorry, Richard,” she muttered to herself.

Richard didn’t come home for dinner Thursday night, but Traci was sitting in the living room in the dark with a glass of wine when he came in the door at about 9 p.m. She thought the setting was very ironic, and she smiled to herself when he startled as she acknowledged him when he came in the door.

“He-hello, Traci,” Richard stammered, realizing instantly that he was being set up for something. “Let me get myself a beer, and we can talk.”

Traci had to admit that her ruse didn’t seem to put Richard back on his heels as she thought it would. Richard was back in the room with a beer inside of a minute, and gave her a crooked smile as he sat in a chair.

“The floor is yours, Traci,” he smirked.

Traci found Richard’s self-assurance somewhat nerve-wracking. She started to look at the floor, then realized her husband was staring at her in the dark.

“I’m going to head back to Miami for a few weeks, stay with Davie. We’ll be back in October. That should give you time to figure things out,” Traci said.

“Are you fucking nuts!?” Richard yelled. “You tell me you don’t want a divorce, but you’re going back to screw this guy for a few more weeks? I’m nobody’s knowing cuckold! If you leave, you might as well stay away forever, bitch!”

Richard jumped out of his chair, dumped his beer in the kitchen sink and stalked up to the guest room. Traci smirked behind his back, truly believing she had taken back the power.

Traci enjoyed her time with Davie when the Marlins played at home, otherwise she felt lonely when the Marlins were on the road. Davie hung out with the younger players, all of whom had younger wives or girlfriends, and Traci didn’t find much in common with them. She also didn’t have much in common with the older players’ wives and girlfriends, who had been around baseball enough to understand and appreciate the game; which she did not.

Davie and Traci flew back to Pensacola when the Major League Baseball season ended in early October. The pair went back to Davie’s rental home, but after a few days, Traci figured it was finally time to confront Richard. She knew Richard would never take her back at this point, but she went to her former home to get the possessions and clothes she had left behind.

Traci was surprised when her key no longer worked in any of the home’s doors. She was surprised Richard would have thought to change the locks. She wound up having to ring the front doorbell.

“Well, the prodigal whore returns,” Richard said as he answered the door.

“Are we going to do this from now on?” Traci questioned.

“Absolutely,” Richard said smiling widely.

Traci told Richard she had come for the remainder of her clothes and possessions. Richard took her to the garage, where a series of garbage bags awaited. He opened the garage door and told her to load it herself. She huffed her disgust. Richard chuckled and walked off.

Two weeks later Traci was sure she had missed her period. She remembered that when she first arrived in Miami, Davie had not thought to buy condoms, and yet the pair still had sex twice that first night before Davie picked up a dozen the next day. Davie was quiet when Traci gave him that news.

“We can take care of this. I’m sure the team doctors will know who the best docs are to take care of it safely,” Davie finally verbalized.

Traci started quietly crying.

“I can’t do that,” she said. “I could never do that.”

“It’s all right, Babe. I’ve always wanted a lot of kids, maybe not this early, but I love kids and have always wanted a bunch.”

“I didn’t,” Traci said quietly.

Traci was four months pregnant when she and Richard signed off on the divorce. He hadn’t seen her since she left to move in with Davie, and did not know she was pregnant. His face expressed shock when he first saw her.

“New respect to your lover, Traci. You never wanted kids with me, but he must be that much more of a man. Well, I guess I can’t say you went off half-cocked, now can I?”

Traci blushed crimson, but didn’t say anything. Richard’s attorney quickly pointed out to all assembled that Richard’s name on the birth certificate would constitute perjury.

“Davie knows it’s his, and has already committed to paying for the birth and the child,” Traci said quietly.

Davie got promoted to Triple A Jacksonville for the next season. As Traci would be more than seven months along by the time the Triple A season started, she and Davie decided she should stay in Pensacola until after the baby was born. Davie got himself a small apartment in Jacksonville for the times he couldn’t make it home between games when the team was at home.

June 27 dawned bright and sunny in Pensacola. Around midday, Traci’s water broke. As planned, she called her friend, Alyssa, to take her to Baptist Hospital. She called Davie on the way to the hospital, and he told his manager and got in his car to make the approximately five-hour drive.

At 10:47 p.m., Evan and Jenna McComb welcomed a daughter into the world after a six-hour labor. Evan, now an assistant vice president at the accounting firm where he worked, got to cut the cord and felt like he was riding on a cloud. Dr. Leslie Scott congratulated the couple but couldn’t stick around because she had another baby on the way to deliver. She left the delivery room and walked down the hall, where baseball phenom Davie Boyd and his girlfriend, Traci Strickland, were getting ready to deliver their first child.

Dr. Scott liked the young ballplayer and his older girlfriend. Although the couple wasn’t married, she noted that the young athlete seemed to dote on the older woman, who was handling her first pregnancy well despite her 36 years of age. Dr. Scott, while noting that a first child for a 36-year-old woman wasn’t too terribly uncommon, also noted there were more risks than for a 30-something than a 20-something. Traci had carefully watched her weight, gaining only 27 pounds during her pregnancy.

The doctor also noted that the ballplayer seemed a lot more enthusiastic over the pregnancy than his girlfriend. Traci had admitted to the doctor at one appointment when it was just the two of them that she had her soon-to-be ex-husband get a vasectomy because she didn’t want children. The pregnancy resulted from a moment of passion that got away from Davie and Traci when they didn’t have condoms available. It’s not like the two would be the first couple to ever have that happen, the doctor thought to herself.

While Traci and the baby boy stayed in Pensacola, Davie went back to “work” in Jacksonville. Two weeks later he was sitting in a quiet restaurant with an older woman when the pair was approached by an irate man.

“Who’s your friend, Cassie? Does he know you’re married? How many times you fuck him already?” he shouted to the pair.

It got quiet in the restaurant. Davie looked at Cassie and vice-versa. Cassie stammered several times before Davie slid out of his chair and moved to face the older man, who looked to be several inches and pounds smaller.

When the police and EMS finally arrived at the restaurant, Davie was on the floor bleeding from several cuts to his face. His right eye was swollen shut and starting to turn colors. Harrison Walker, construction worker and the husband of Cassie Walker, had cut and bruised knuckles on his left hand. His wife was still seated at the table, sobbing.

Davie was still in the hospital when the report of the incident in the restaurant made the news. Needless to say, Marlins’ management wasn’t pleased that one of their high-dollar investments had a potential career-threatening eye injury.

Also not pleased when she heard the news was Traci, especially when she heard the story about Davie being in the restaurant with a married woman. The coincidence didn’t escape her.

“Son of a bitch!” Traci yelled to no one. The noise woke her infant, who started to cry.

“No stupid deed goes unpunished,” the woman thought.

Being only human, Richard Strickland couldn’t help but smile when he heard about Davie’s ass-beating. He also didn’t feel one ounce of compassion for his ex-wife and her predicament.

“She chose poorly,” he thought to himself as he slightly changed a remembered line from the movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”

Pensacola police declined to press charges against Harrison Walker, especially when witnesses reported that the ballplayer started the fight. Richard Strickland had one of his staffers track down Harrison’s cellphone number and the mayor called the construction worker with the name and phone number of his divorce lawyer. He also offered the younger man his heartiest congratulations for the beatdown of the ballplayer.

Two weeks later Traci and the baby, who the couple had named Frederick, after Davie’s favorite player, Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves, moved into a smaller apartment Traci rented. Traci had her attorney contact Davie to set up child support payments and visitation. She was still collecting alimony from Richard.

As fall turned into winter, Marlins’ officials were very concerned that Davie’s blurry vision in his right eye was not clearing. Insurance would cover for the contract, but nothing would make up for the player’s potential: the hits, the home runs, the runs batted in.

Life as a stay-at-home single mother took a toll on Traci mentally and physically. She seemed to have lost a significant amount of friends when she and Richard divorced, and what few friends remained didn’t seem to want to hang around with a 30-something woman with a baby. She had only lost half of her baby weight before she left Davie, and in the 14 months she had been on her own had put on about 15 more pounds. Her chic wardrobe no longer fit and was pushed to the back of her closet and drawers, replaced with mom jeans and bulky sweaters. Her hair had grown out, and most days she just pulled it back into a pony tail.