I need to say a big thank you to my friend Randi, who spent hours editing and trying to convert my incoherent ramblings into something resembling a story. For her help I am extremely grateful.
*
It seemed to me, that Gary, and I had been friends forever. At least that’s the way it felt. We went to school together, we went to college together. We were best mates. All his friends, me included, called him “Gazza.”
He did many wonderful things for me; the most important, though, was introducing me to my wife, Kelly. He had been dating a girl, a very attractive sexy young thing named Elise, and she was a bloody hottie. That meant for the first times in our lives, we didn’t see so much of each other. He was totally absorbed by her. Still, I was just being jealous. If she had been my girlfriend, I probably would’ve done the same. I had bigger fish to fry. I was trying to get passing grades for my Accountancy degree.
Yes, I was studying accountancy. I liked numbers; they didn’t argue, there was no drama and they always made sense.
People, on the other hand, were not always so obliging. I wasn’t a natural people person, maybe not introverted, but shy, retiring.
The night he informed me that Elise had organised a double date for me with them, it annoyed the shit out of me. Blind dates never ended well. If Elise’s friend couldn’t find her own date, she was bound to be a dog.
I put up a bit of resistance, but in the end caved. What did I have to lose, right?
I was stunned. The moment I laid eyes on Kelly, I was blown away. She was very pretty, absolutely stunning, in fact.
Kelly was super hot, hot enough to make Elise almost the dud girlfriend. Not only was she pretty, but she was intelligent, witty, easy to talk to and totally unaware of the effect her beauty had on tongue-tied idiots like me.
Kelly was studying, as well. She was working towards a degree in business management, without actually having an end goal.
She was so easy to talk to, and she was sports mad, much like me. She was informed, and understood local politics. Living in Auckland, there were always politics on the table.
We quickly became a foursome. We went most places together. We double dated, went on weekends away together, and it was bloody good fun.
Our foursome quickly grew into a sextet when Elise introduced us to another couple, Marty and Maike. She met them through her studies. Elise was an enigma. She studied history and philosophy, her goals already set. Indiana Jones, look out.
Anyway, they fit into our little clique and were soon well and truly embedded. We were young and enjoying life. The group dynamic was pretty wild at times. We all flirted and fooled around together. It was all innocent fun, but it did get a bit heated from time to time.
Marty had a thing for Elise, and he sometimes got a bit carried away. Especially when we were all dancing.
It made me laugh, actually. Jeez, Maike was hot, I mean super hot. She had the body Elise and Kelly lusted after. Yeah, me as well if I was honest. I did admit that to Gazza one day. He immediately dropped me in it by blurting it out to the whole group. Luckily for me, Kelly wasn’t the jealous type. In fact, she teased me about it after that.
Our lives were closely linked. I got my degree and went to work for Gazza’s father, Paul. He had his own chartered accountancy firm and took me on as a junior the moment I graduated.
Elise went to work at the Auckland museum. Kelly started working at the Manukau Times newspaper. Marty entered the world of finance. Maike went off to work as a dentist. It was only Gazza who created trouble. His father wanted him to work at the firm, but he fought that. He decided his future lay with a very well-known merchant banker.
With work taking priority, our opportunities for dating dried up a little. Life, as they say, moves on. Gazza and Elise were the first to tie the knot, quickly followed by M&M: Marty and Maike.
Kelly and I were the last to fall.
It was through this period that I fell completely in love with Kelly. My father contracted pancreatic cancer. It was a harrowing time for my family. Kelly was amazing, encouraging rather than complaining when I wanted to spend weekends with my folks. She had long since become best friends with my two sisters, Diane, and Lilly. Mum had already fallen head over heels in love with Kelly. She loved her from the first moment they met. When Dad became ill, Kelly spent more time there comforting Mum than with me.
After Dad died, Kelly made sure Mum was seldom alone; she took months just spending time with her.
Married life couldn’t have been better. Work was great; Paul was an amazing bloke to work for. The office was fun and friendly, and he paid well above what I could expect to get elsewhere.
Kelly and I found a cool one-bedroom apartment on the Parnell rise. Our aim was to save as much money as possible so we could buy our own home. The others were on a similar mission. The great Kiwi dream: our own home.
As money got tight, we stopped going out and ended up having little dinner parties, all of us taking turns hosting.
It just so happened on this particular night, we were hosting. It was the weekend before Easter. Sitting around the table, dinner done, we were relaxing drinking wine, talking and gossiping.
Of course, the main topic of conversation was what we were all doing for the long Easter weekend. Elise gushed, “We are going to Wellington for the weekend. Te Papa, the National museum, has a new exhibition showing and I’m dying to see it.”
The look on Gazza’s face showed what he thought of that idea. When I laughed, he sniped, “Shut up, arsehole. Where are you going?”
Kelly jumped in. “I found this awesome deal at a resort up in Whangaparaoa. I got this special half-price deal. We are going to spend the whole weekend getting pampered, lying by the pool, getting massages. It’s going to be awesome.” The smile on her face was so bright we could have turned off the lights.
Gazza glanced at me. He knew me too well. “Hah, who’s laughing now?” He chuckled.
Kelly turned and gazed at me. “What’s he talking about, Babe? What’s the problem?”
I didn’t want to say anything; I had already accepted my fate, but Gazza, as always, had stirred the pot. With a deep sigh, I mumbled. “Come on, Honey, you know that’s not my scene.”
She looked crestfallen, “But it’ll be amazing, we can just chill out and completely relax, be pampered.”
Marty interrupted her. “Relax, Kelly, we all know what he’s like. I bet you’d rather go with Maike on her frigging mountain biking expedition, wouldn’t you?”
I nodded, with a thin smile. “Actually, I would.”
Maike smiled understandingly. She and I were both mad mountain bikers, and I would love the opportunity to just go off for the weekend. Problem being, I had already promised Kelly she could choose this holiday. When I offered to let her choose, I hoped she would choose somewhere we could both enjoy the weekend.
Gazza asked, “What are you going to be doing, Marty?”
He surveyed us uncomfortably. “I’m going with Maike. I’ll just hang around the camp while she’s off trailblazing.”
We talked a little more and Gazza continued to grumble about going to Wellington. “Dave, you’re bloody lucky mate. I would love that holiday, just lazing around, Jesus, Bro, that would be fucking awesome. I would love it.”
Elise groaned. “Philistine, why don’t you just go with them then?”
Marty jumped in. “Jeez, Gazza, don’t be an idiot, I would kill for the opportunity to see that damn exhibition. It’s going to be brilliant.”
Maike gave me a little smile. I nodded, and tried to make a joke of it. “Yeah, you can all stick that where the sun don’t shine. I would love to be off with Maike, blasting some trails. Especially where she’s going in the Coromandel.”
The conversation went back and forth before Elise stood up. “Whoa, hang on a minute. It seems like half the people in this room are getting a holiday they are less than happy with. What say we swap partners for the weekend?”
Marty gasped. “What did you just say?”
“Well, I am saying that we take a leaf out of that TV program we have all watched, ‘WIFE SWAP.’ I’m suggesting that Gazza goes with Kelly, Marty, you come with me and Maike and Dave go cycling or whatever you call it.”
“No way!” Kelly snorted. “I planned to spend a romantic weekend with my husband.”
Marty burst out. “Hold on, let’s all take a breath. No need too be hasty. Let’s think about this like adults. Kelly, what sort of weekend are you going to have if all the while Dave is sulking around. You know he doesn’t want to go.”
Elise said. “Yes, come on, Babes. Think about it. I know Gazza’s going to be grumpy all weekend. If Marty goes with me, we will have a great weekend. We will both enjoy it and it’ll make the whole thing better.”
Gazza added his two cents worth. “Count me in. Jeez, I would give anything to not have to go on that god damned museum trip. Shit, I’ll pay, anything to get out of it.” He gave Elise a sad glance. “Sorry, Babe, but you know how much I hate those damn trips.”
Elise nodded. “Oh don’t worry, I know all right. You made it abundantly clear on our last trip.”
I decided to throw my opinion in. “You’re all being ridiculous. Elise, If you know Gazza doesn’t want to go with you, just go by yourself.”
Marty interjected. “Slow down, Bro, I want to go, she’s already booked the tickets. I mean I’ll happily pay.”
“Dave, mate. I’ll pay, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Gazza blurted out.
“And where the hell do you think you’d bloody sleep?” I asked.
Kelly sighed. “It’s not happening. I have been planning this for ages. I want a romantic weekend away. Babysitting Gazza doesn’t interest me. I may as well take one of my girlfriends from work.”
“Hey, just because I’m a bloke doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy it. Jeez, I can’t think of anything more relaxing than massages, soaking in a hot tub, lying around absorbing some rays. No, it sounds perfect.”
Kelly sniggered. “Yeah, and what about the yoga?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably stretching it, but they probably have Tai Chi or something I could do.”
Elise waved her hands to stop the incessant chatter. “I think this is an awesome idea. We are all adults, we can go on separate holidays. We are all friends, we can be adults for once.”
Marty turned to Maike. “What do you say, Babe?”
She shrugged with a casual wave of her hands. “I’m not fussed. If Dave came with me, it would mean not feeling guilty while I am out on the trails.”
Elise glanced expectantly at me. “Well, Dave, what do you think?”
The idea of getting out of the horrible trip to the resort blurred my judgement, I was actually contemplating it. That is, until I saw Kelly’s face. “No, sorry guys, you do what you want. Kelly and I have our plans all worked out. Maybe you two can swap? Gazza can go with Maike.”
That stopped the chatter. Elise sighed. Gazza snorted. “Like fuck! I’m not going bloody mountain biking, you can forget that.”
Marty groaned irritably. Maike, who picked up on his mood swing, said. “Marty if you don’t want to come with me, just organise your own trip to Te Papa.”
Elise gushed. “Maike, you’re joking. Wellington’s sold out. Unless you have somewhere private to stay, Marty, you are shit out of luck.”
She glanced towards Gazza to test his commitment. “Marty, you could still come with me. Gazza can sort out his own weekend.”
Gazza sniggered. “Yeah, don’t worry about me. Jeez, I’d rather sit at home and watch TV than go on that flaming trip.”
Elise tried to guilt Kelly. “I’m disappointed, Kelly. If you took Gazza, we would all have the perfect holiday. Dave doesn’t want to go with you. He’s only going because he doesn’t want to let you down.”
Kelly turned hesitantly to me. “Is that true?”
I tried to hide my disdain. “Kelly, I told you I didn’t want to go when you brought all those brochures home. I said right from the outset it wasn’t my idea of a fun weekend, but it’s paid for, so we will do it.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t think you were serious. I thought you were teasing.”
“No, Honey, I told you. You were just so happy and wrapped up in it I decided to go along.”
She bit her lip. “I’m sorry, would you really prefer to go mountain biking?”
I nodded. “You know the answer to that.”
She slapped her hands on her knees. “Okay then, that’s settled. Looks like Gazza and I are going to the resort.”
Gazza jumped up and punched the air. “Oh, hell yeah. Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
Looking at Kelly quizzically I asked. “Can you get a room change?”
“I’ll try, shouldn’t be a problem. I can let you know tomorrow, Gazza.”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll happily pay the extra or whatever. I’ll pay for Dave’s share as well, hell, I’ll pay for the whole damn thing. I don’t care. That would only be fair.”
That night as we cuddled up in bed Kelly whispered. “I’m sorry, if I knew you were that against it, I would never have booked it. Why didn’t you say something?”
I kissed her forehead lightly. “I didn’t want to let you down. I could see how into it you were.”
She kissed me back, her succulent full juicy lips slid over my face as she rolled onto her back, pulling me with her.
The next night we all got back together for a pot luck dinner at Elise and Gazza’s place. Kelly had been able to get a twin share room. It was all on. The table erupted in conversation. Everybody talking at once. It was all good fun, and I thought to myself, “This could be a good thing.”
Maike and I sat together planning the trails we would ride. The Coromandel is full of old logging roads and tracks. It’s mountain biking heaven. Maike had already booked a tent site at Hot Water beach, so that was done.
Later, the girls all gathered together to talk about their trips. Us boys just watched in amazement. Yeah it might be a good thing. Watching the girls deep in hushed conversation did give me a little worry: the furtive glances, the sly giggles.
Everybody was set. We had a final meeting Thursday night for drinks and to iron out details. The girls seemed in a far more animated conversation. The furtive glances were replaced with some slightly nervous glares. Kelly, especially, caught my eye and blushed. They were up to something.
In bed, I tried to get it out of Kelly, but for once in her life she was keeping a secret. First time for everything, I suppose. All she would say is. “It’s a surprise. Don’t worry, I think you’re going to like it.”
Kelly and I had a great sex life. She was probably the more adventurous, and that night she was on fire. We made love three times. Not a record for us, but definitely up there. We slept with smiles on our tired faces.
In the morning, I loaded my car and strapped the mountain bike on the rack. We waited for Gazza to turn up and pick up Kelly. “Now you remember to be good,” I whispered between goodbye kisses.
“Me! I think it’s you who I should be worried about. You are always going on about how cute Maike is.”
Just then, Gazza arrived. We kissed one final time before she climbed in. I poked my head in the passenger window and growled. “You make sure you look after Kelly, and no hanky-panky.”
Gazza laughed snidely. “No worries, Bro. All under control.”
I picked up Maike and we were on our way. Maike and I had always got on great. We shared similar interests and she was a bit of a tomboy. For some reason, the conversation was a bit one sided. She appeared to have something on her mind.
The traffic was thick and it took well over three hours to get to our destination. Thankfully, the conversation picked up. Maike loosened up and it flowed a long way better.
We set up camp, cooked a late dinner and had some drinks with the other holiday makers. It shocked me how much Maike had to drink. Normally, she is not a drinker; however, she was well into it. By the time we were ready to crash, she was sozzled. We used my tent because it was bigger than hers. The only problem was the blow up mattress, I brought a double.
At least we had separate sleeping bags, so there was some semblance of separation.
It was a weird weekend in many ways. While we were out on the trails it was great. Maike, was an accomplished rider, and I didn’t have to wait for her many times. In a couple of sections, she actually beat me.
It was around the camp that things were weird. She seemed to have this need to be close to me all the time. On the second night, after another night of drinks, she asked if I wanted a massage. It was weird, and I got the feeling there was something she wanted to say, but couldn’t. Still, we managed to get past it and it was a thoroughly wonderful weekend.
The drive back to Auckland was weird as well. Again I got this feeling she wanted to say something, but either couldn’t, or wouldn’t. The tension in the air was thick, and it didn’t matter what I said. I couldn’t drag her into conversation. She leaned against the car door, chewing on her bottom lip. We were both exhausted when we arrived back in Auckland. I dropped her off well after dark. The traffic had been horrendous and it took us nearly four hours to get home. I was looking forward to a bath and an early night.
I hoped Kelly would be feeling horny; this was the longest we had been apart in our entire relationship.
When I walked in at home, Kelly looked flustered. There was an almost empty wine bottle on the kitchen counter. When I walked in and tossed my bag on the floor she rushed over, a hesitant nervous smile pulling at her face. “How was your weekend?” she croaked as her arms circled my neck, her lips crushing mine, in a searing powerful kiss.
The kiss was frenetic and passionate. Her tongue crazily slithered around my mouth. As we separated, I spluttered, “Wow, if this is the way I get greeted after being away for a few days, I think I’ll do it more regularly.”
She gave me a funny anxious look, and asked with a hint of nervousness hesitancy, “How was Maike?”
Confused by her demeanour, I replied. “She was great fun. Her riding has really improved. Man, she even beat me on a couple of the sections.”
I pulled her back into my embrace and was about to kiss her when she asked with an urgent, agitated uncomfortable stammer, “But, what about at the campground, you know at night?”
Surprised by her question, I tried to brush aside my anxiety. “She was a bit weird, actually. She was like a cat on a hot tin roof for the whole weekend. It was like there was something she wanted to say, but couldn’t.”
“What about the tent?” she asked, almost desperately.
I thought, “This has to be jealousy. She must think something happened. “Ah, relax Kelly, it was okay. We only had one airbed, but Honey, it’s okay. We had separate sleeping bags. I promise, nothing untoward happened. There’s nothing for you too worry about.”
Her face went white, the colour drained instantly. I had to grab her to stop her falling. “Are you all right, Honey?”
She spluttered breathlessly. “Yes, sorry. I think I need to sit down. So, you’re saying nothing happened? There’s nothing you want to tell me?”
“Honey, relax. You know me better than that. I would never cheat on you. I promise.
I escorted her over to the sofa and she eased herself down. “How was your weekend? I hope Gazza looked after you properly.”
She didn’t respond, her pallid face empty and emotionless. “Did you hear me, Honey? How was your weekend?”
She gasped, startled, and tried to catch herself. “Um, yeah. It was all right.”
“Did Gazza behave? I hope he looked after you properly?”
“Yes,” she croaked hoarsely, her words barely audible.
She looked completely lost. I need a soak so I asked, “If you’re going to be okay. I might have a bath; god, my legs still feel like jelly.”
She just nodded.
As I soaked in the bath I could hear her talking. She was obviously on the phone to the girls, checking on how everybody’s weekend went. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but the conversations seemed tense, uncomfortable.
When I dried myself off and wandered out to the living area, Kelly had a light dinner waiting for me. I wolfed it down quickly as she gulped down what was left of her bottle of wine. I tried to get the conversation moving, but the usually talkative jubilant woman I married had been replaced by a nervous teenager.
When I said I was ready for bed she just nodded. I stood and reached for her hand, but she said. “You go ahead babe. I might watch some TV first.”
“Watch TV? I was hoping after the welcome home I got, we might, you know, fool around a little, make love.” She gave me a weak reluctant smile. “Yes, but you must be tired. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
Shaking my head, I wandered off to bed. Something was going on. I wondered if Gazza had tried something on with her. I had known him my whole life, I trusted him. I passed it off as me being stupid.
I climbed into bed and left the lights on as I played with my phone, checking out some of the photos I’d taken.
It was nearly an hour before Kelly came in. When she saw me sitting up in bed she flinched. Yeah, something was up.
She disappeared into the bathroom, emerging twenty minutes later wearing a nighty thingy. Not a seductive negligee, I mean a full on nighty. Christ, normally we slept naked. She turned off the bedroom light and walked towards the bed. I turned on my bedside lamp, and threw back the covers to invite her in.
“What’s with the nightie?” I asked.
Grimacing she replied, “I was feeling cold.”
As she slipped between the sheets I pulled her into a snuggle. “Don’t worry, I’ll warm you up. God, I missed you, Baby.”
She kissed me back. “I missed you, as well. If you are tired, we can just cuddle.”
“Cuddle, Jesus, Honey, I’m as horny as hell. It’s been five days.”
I slipped my hand under her nighty cupping her beautiful perky little boobs. My hand bumped into her bra. I glanced at her, “A bra? What the hell’s going on? You never wear bras to bed.”
“I was just feeling a bit off.”
“So you don’t want to make love then?”
“What, no, of course I do,” she said hesitantly. Jeez, it was almost reluctance.
I started unbuttoning her nightie and she whispered. “Turn the lights off.”
Ignoring her, I leaned in and kissed her as my hand wandered over her flat sexy tummy, up over her boobs. I teased and caressed as we kissed. I felt her body relax, soften as she melted against me.
I sat up a little and finished unbuttoning her nightie, then reached behind her and unclasped her bra. As I leaned down to kiss her flesh I noticed how much powder she was wearing. The scent was strong and the powder dusty on my lips.
“Dave, please turn the light off,” she whimpered.
I rolled her onto her back and climbed on top of her. “Relax, Honey, what is wrong? You seem tense.”
Between her legs I decided to go all out. I kissed my way down her body working towards her sweet little pussy.
“No, Dave, please. Lets just make love.”
Ignoring her, I pushed her legs wider apart and kissed my way down her tummy. As I kissed around her mound, I worked down onto her thighs. There were red blotches, which were smothered with that damn powder.
I ran my tongue over them sucking and licking off the powder. “Dave, please come up here, Babe. I just want you inside me.”
I sat up on my haunches as I stared at her thighs. “Why do you have love bites all over your thighs?” I hissed angrily.
Using my hand I wiped away the powder she used to try and mask them.
Her face was ashen and frightened, she started to cry. Her hands covering her face.
“Why the hell do you have these fucking love bites all over you?” I barked. “What the fuck has been going on?”
“Dave, please, just come here and cuddle. Let me explain.”
“It was Gary, wasn’t it? Oh my god, you slept with him didn’t you? You had sex with him.”
“Dave, let me explain.”
“Explain, explain what? Why you had sex with him? Fucking hell, Kelly. You did, didn’t you?”
“Dave, please, stop saying that.”
“It’s true isn’t it?”
“Not like that. You have to let me explain.”
“Just tell me, yes or no. Did you have sex with Gary?”
“Yes,” she whimpered between wild sobs. “But it wasn’t like you think.”
I threw the blankets aside and barked. “Get out, just get the fuck out.”
She sat staring at me blankly. “What, no, let me explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain Kelly. Get out of my bed. I’m not sleeping with a slut.”
She didn’t move, her hands covered her face, her body shuddered as she sobbed frantically.
I leaned over and pushed her. “I said get out, get out now before I do something terrible.”
Scared she climbed out of bed. “What am I meant to do?”
“I don’t fucking care, but you’re not sleeping in here. Sleep on the sofa.”
She stood staring down at me. “Dave, if you would just let me explain.”
“Fuck off, bitch,” I snarled. “Just get the fuck out.” I screamed. I had never felt pain or anger like it in my life. “Get out, you filthy disgusting bitch. Just get the fuck away from me.”
Her body shook with the intensity of her painful sobs. “Dave, you have to let me explain.”
“Get out.” My scream was that loud even my ears hurt.
She quickly staggered out.
I pulled the blankets over me and tried to shut the world out. It was hopeless, I heard her in the living room sobbing fitfully. Right at that moment, I wished our apartment wasn’t so small.
The morning was worse. With little sleep I showered and dressed for work. I found her curled up in a foetal position on the sofa. Her body rocked back and forth as she sobbed. “I’m sorry, Dave; you have to forgive me.”
“I don’t have to do anything. Please don’t be here when I get home tonight.”
Shocked she spluttered. “What, where am I supposed to go?”
“Stay with your mother, I don’t care, but I do not want to see you.”
I stormed out without saying anything else.
Work was terrible. I told everyone before the weekend what I was doing. Everybody, including Paul, wanted to know about it. Paul was the hardest to put up with. Thankfully, everybody realised what a grump I was in and pretty much left me alone.
All day my phone pinged. There were messages from Elise, Gazza, Marty and of course, Kelly.
I let them all go through to message bank. They were the last people I wanted to talk to. Surely Gary must be in as much trouble as Kelly. Elise wouldn’t put up with him cheating.
The receptionist tried to patch through call after call. In the end, I said no calls.
I went home that night a defeated man. Why the hell did she do it? With him of all people. Of course, once you get to this space the mind goes crazy. You question everything. Had it been going on all the time? Was it a full-on affair?
My phone was going ballistic. My mother called, my sisters called, Elise, Gazza. Yeah I bet he wanted to talk. He probably wanted to beg me not to say anything to Elise.
After a couple of stiff drinks I decided, “Fuck it. Elise should know.”
Rather than call her. I sent her a text message. “I don’t know whether you know yet, but Gary had sex with Kelly over the weekend. Sorry to tell you like this, but I don’t want to talk. I just thought you should know what a cheating slimy bastard you’re married to.”
There was nothing for a few minutes, but then my phone pinged. It was a reply from Elise. “Dave, I know. We all know. You have the wrong idea. It was supposed to be a swap, as in a proper swap.”
Reading it, I stumbled. My breath vanished. Like somebody punched me in the guts.
My phone rang as I staggered over to the sofa. “Hello.” I muttered.
“Dave, it’s me, Elise. I’m sorry. It was supposed to be a surprise for you guys. The only problem being Maike chickened out.”
“You mean you were all in on it?”
“No, only us girls. We thought it would be a bit of fun. Sorry, we didn’t count on Maike being such a chicken.”
“So you had sex with Marty, as well?”
“Yes, look, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you, but you have to talk to Kelly. She is worried sick. She’s frantic. Please just give her a call, talk to her.”
My breathing had returned, my tongue seemed to be working properly again. “Elise, you can go fuck yourself. I never want to hear from you, or your fucking husband ever again. From this point forward, you are dead to me.”
“Don’t be silly. Okay, I know this has all come as a shock, but if Maike had kept up her end of the deal, everything would have worked out.”
“Fuck off, Elise. Stay out of my life. I never want to hear from you, or see you again. Please tell Gary to stay away from me, because if he comes near me, he will be sorry.”
“Oh don’t be so melodramatic…” I furiously ended the call before she could finish whatever she was going to say.
What a stupid bunch of fucking bitches. No wonder Maike was so upset. There was no way she would have ever gone through with their stupid plot. Fuck, I never thought Kelly would do something so stupid, either. Maybe I had overestimated her intelligence.
I turned off my phone and crashed. With no sleep the night before and a couple of stiff drinks under my belt, I crashed.
If work was bad the day before, it was worse the next day. The phone rang endlessly. I had the receptionist intercept all my calls and filter out anything but clients. Paul walked in just before lunch and he looked worried. “Dave, I don’t know what’s going on, but Gary is trying to get through to you.”
“Tough. Sorry, Paul. I know he is your son, but I do not want to talk to him. Not now, or ever.”
He sat on the corner of my desk. “Son, talk to me. What the hell happened to cause that?”
I knew I would get no peace, and the reality was I wanted to tell somebody. “All right, Paul, you want to know, well here it is. Your son had sex with my wife. They went off together on that bloody trip together and spent it having sex.”
Paul just about fell off the desk. “You must have that wrong, Son. He would never do that to you.”
“She told me. There’s no misconceptions, no misunderstanding. They did it. He is dead to me, do you understand that, Sir, dead.”
He glared at me for what felt like hours. “Son, it might be best for everyone concerned if you took the next couple of day’s off. What do you think?”
I nodded, packed up and headed home. It was only a one bedroom apartment, but without Kelly’s warm smile and presence it felt cavernous.
I decided the best thing to do was go down to the gym and take out some of my aggression on the punching bag. It started slowly, but ten minutes in and I was smashing the bag, even with gloves on my hands hurt. Rather than slow me down, the pain powered my anger and I hit harder.
The trainer walked over and patted me on the back
He was lucky, because he startled me, and with my mind masked with anger when I turned I swung back. Wow did I have that wrong. I was the lucky one. He was a full six inches taller, heavily muscled and strong. He grabbed my hand in one swift move. We stood staring at each other. “Bro, you’re going to hurt yourself. Let’s slow things down, okay?”
I nodded, and he stood behind the bag and gave me a little nod. I started swinging again and he smiled as I powered into beating the bag to death.
He stepped out, grabbed me and said, “Slow down, make each punch count.”
I followed his instructions and he guided me, showed me how to stand, to move, get all my weight behind the punch.
He helped me for over an hour, but when he walked away, I just went back to smashing the bag, not caring about form, or anything else. I just wanted it hurt.
A quick shower and I walked back home. The joys of living in the city.
The walk gave me time to think. I had questions, hundreds of them. Nothing made sense, nothing gave me a plan, or way forward. All I felt was anger, and it burned, damn it stung.
Back in the apartment, I made something to eat and relaxed.
I checked my phone. I had left it off all day. because I was sick of hearing it go off every five minutes or so.
I noticed Mum had called several times. I hit dial and she answered immediately. “David, I would like to talk, could you come over?”
No thanks, Mum, I have just had dinner and a few drinks, so I can’t do it.”
“Are you all right, sweetheart? I have spoken to Kelly. She told me what happened.”
“She told you, she told you what?”
“She told me she slept with Gary. I’m sorry sweetheart. I wanted to see if you were all right.”
Shocked that Kelly had been honest, I said, “I’m okay, Mum. Just trying to figure out what to do.”
“Honey, what about counselling?”
“No, I don’t think so. I’m thinking more like solicitor. I am seeing one tomorrow.”
Her voice shrieked. “No, heavens above, David. I’m not defending her actions, I’m not trying to make light or trivialise what happened, but let’s be clear, Honey. She made a mistake. One mistake isn’t the end of the world. Promise me you won’t act rashly, take your time. Talk to her.”
“I can’t talk to her at the moment because I can’t stand being in the same room with her.”
“Honey, let it go. She did a terrible thing, she was wrong and it should never have happened, but it’s over. It’s in the past. Talk to her, please, she is frantic. She is distraught, she needs to talk to you, and you will never be able to fix this unless you actually give her a chance to explain her actions.”
“Mum, I understand what happened. She decided to have sex with another man, my best friend. I feel let down and angry. She betrayed me; they both did. There’s no coming back from that. I refuse to accept that behaviour. It’s not okay, Mum. You wouldn’t accept it, and neither will I.”
“Sweetheart, she loves you. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s a true statement. You love her equally as much, I know you do. You were meant to be together. It may be a cliche, but you complete each other.”
“I used to think that, as well, not any more.”
I hung up because I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I didn’t want her to hear me cry.
I did some online research and the good news was I could apply for a legal separation online. I downloaded all the forms and filled them out. If she agreed to fill out and sign, we could finalise this easily. Thankfully we didn’t have children, no real property aside from cars and furniture. Easy stuff to sort out.
I filled out my information, signed and uploaded it back to the site to be registered.
The weekend came around quickly, the days off work I spent mostly at the gym. Mum called every day, she was on a mission to reunite us. My sisters were worse, they were so firmly on Kelly’s side I felt like I was being attacked. They both lectured me on behaving like a childish idiot, that it was just once, and I needed to talk to her and fix it.
I was surprised Saturday morning when Kelly walked in. She stood just inside the door. “Can I come in?”
I growled, “Actually, I would prefer you didn’t.”
“This is my home, as well, Dave. I have tried to call you, but you refuse to take my calls.”
“That’s because I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Babe, we have to talk about this. Find a way to fix it.”
She walked in and moved towards me, I put my hand up in a stop motion. “Don’t come any closer Kelly. I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”
She stood just in front of me. “You don’t mean that; you’re hurt, angry. I understand that, but this whole thing was just a silly mistake.”
“Oh, it was a mistake all right. Yes it was fucking stupid; don’t try to trivialise it by calling it silly. Silly is forgetting to pick up milk on the way home.”
“Babe, I wasn’t trying to make light of it. All I was trying to say is, it was supposed to be a fun weekend for all of us.”
I couldn’t speak, I chewed furiously as she carried on. “We made a mistake. We should have considered Maike’s lack of self-esteem. She wanted to be with you, she just didn’t know how.”
“Stop it, Kelly. This is bullshit. If this was such a good idea and you wanted to do this, we should have talked about it. Discussed it, fuck, I thought we could talk about anything?”
“Shit, Hon, it was meant to be a treat, a diversion from everyday life. For crying out loud, it was, just a stupid game. You guys are always going on about how you don’t get enough. You’re bloody horny all the time, us girls aren’t sexy enough. I never thought for a moment that you would turn down a chance to sleep with Maike. I mean I understand that, she’s gorgeous. I’ve seen you ogling her.”
“I’m not talking about this, Kelly. You cheated on me.”
“I didn’t cheat.” she bawled. “It was supposed to be a swap. Something a bit spicy, titillating, that we would all share. I never for a moment thought you would be like, this is disgusting, obscene, or some shit.”
“Listen to yourself, trying to justify your slutty behaviour. You had sex with another man, without my knowledge or permission. That sounds like cheating to me.”
“But, if you slept with Maike, it would have been equal.”
I turned and walked over to the computer and printer. I lifted out the separation docs and handed them to her. “Read these. I don’t know what you want to do about the apartment. I don’t care either way. If you want it, then I’ll move out and you can take over.”
Her face was white, tears slid down her cheeks. He mouth twitched, shivering uncontrollably as she took the papers from my hand.
She staggered to the table and sat down. “Dave, this is an overreaction. Surely we can talk about it. I’m sure if we can just talk, take out the anger, we can find a way forward. I love you. I don’t want this.”
“Yeah, pity you didn’t think about that before jumping into bed with that shit head.”
“He’s your best friend. I’m sure if you talked to him, it would help. He has tried to call you.”
“I couldn’t care less about him. He, is dead to me. I will never speak to him again.”
The tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes a red and black mass of running mascara, her cheeks smudged black. “You don’t mean that, Dave.”
“Read the papers. If you agree with my suggestions we can separate immediately. Move on.”
“No!” she snarled, “Absolutely no way. I’m not letting this destroy our lives. I’m sorry it happened. I’m sorry we hurt you. You’re right, we should have all talked about it first. But we didn’t; it happened. It was a mistake. Please, I love you, I want you in my life. We can work this out, if you let me in.”
I walked out, down to the storage room to collect my bike. I hoped maybe a long ride would help calm my frayed nerves. As always, the wind in my hair, the adrenalin from the ride, worked a treat and I did feel better.
By the time I got home I was chilled. I hoped that Kelly would be gone, and I could take some time to chill, think and consider my options.
Unfortunately, she had other ideas and dinner was cooking, the apartment sparkled, and she had changed and looked pretty damn nice.
As I walked in she gave me a warm smile. “Is charred salmon okay for dinner?”
It smelled great and I was starving. I gave her a nod and walked through to have a shower. After changing, I wandered out to find the table set, food served, glasses of wine sat resting beside our plates. She was going for romantic, lights down low, candles.
I wanted to say, “What the fuck?” but swallowed it. No words were spoken as we sat. The food tasted fantastic: something I neglected to mention was that Kelly is a sensational cook.
As we ate, she gave me a nervous smile. “Dave, I know this has been hard. What about if we just pushed it aside for the time being. Tried to forget it even happened?”
I sneered. “Just forget it happened! Christ, you think this is something we can just sweep under the rug?”
“No, I meant just so we could try and reconnect. Try to talk without the bitter anger.”
“Sorry, but no. You may think this is nothing, just a little hurdle, a bump in the road.”
I swallowed hard, trying to suppress the rage that burned inside. “Kelly, I don’t see it that way. This will stay with me forever. You totally betrayed me. You couldn’t have picked a worse person to do it with. Not only did you destroy our marriage, but you obliterated my relationship with my best friend. Thanks for that.”
Her face twisted painfully, her bottom lip quivering as she groaned. “I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t keep saying it. I made a mistake. We all did, we didn’t think. What do you want me to do? How can I fix this?”
“Kelly, seriously. Our marriage is over. I gave you the settlement papers. If you sign them, we can lodge them straight away and we can both move on with our lives.”
“No.” She shook her head vigorously. “I’m not giving up, why can’t we try counselling?”
“No.”
“We could go away for a weekend together?”
“Oh yeah, that’s a great fucking idea. Worked a treat last time, didn’t it. The answers no.”
“Dave, Maike, and Elise suggested they would be happy to balance the books. You could have weekends away with both of them?”
“What? Are you fucking crazy? Jesus Christ, Kelly. That’s what got us into this mess.”
“But only because you didn’t get to enjoy it like we did.”
“Oh, it was good then was it? Gary’s a good fuck, huh? Good to know.”
She grimaced, her already wan, colourless face whitened even more. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. What I meant was the rest of us had fun weekends away. You could do the same. Gary said he would pay all the costs.”
“Fuck me, Kelly, are you listening to yourself?”
She grimaced tightly. “Yes, sorry. I don’t know what to suggest. I’m just rambling, they just want to help.”
“So you think a mercy fuck from either of those two slags is going to make me feel better? Fuck the pair of cheating moll’s.”
“Don’t say that Dave, they were trying to help. Maike feels bad enough. She blames herself.”
We finished in silence. She packed up the dishwasher as I finished my wine. At the end I said. “I’m going to bed. Let yourself out when you’re finished.”
I went into the bedroom and slammed the door behind me. I wasn’t tired, I was just sick of listening to all the crap. I pulled out my phone and played for a while before turning out the lights and trying to go to sleep.
About eleven PM, I heard the door open and Kelly sneaked in and slid in under the covers. I felt her snuggling up beside me.
“Piss off, Kelly. if you’re not going to sleep on the sofa, then at least stay over your side.?
“Dave, we need to talk about what happened. Don’t you have questions?”
Sitting up, I snapped on the bedside lamp. “Yes. Why? Why the fuck did you do it?”
Between sniffles she mumbled. “I don’t know. It sounded like fun. Elise suggested it and at first I was dubious, but as we talked about it. I thought, yeah, we are all such good friends, so tight. Maybe it would be fun. We are adults, we love similar stuff. It made sense. There has always been an energy amongst us. We all flirt and have fun, you, as well.”
“If it was such a great idea, why didn’t you tell me before you left?”
“Because we thought if you guys didn’t know it would be more of a surprise. We assumed you would all be up for it. Maike said she had a little crush on you. Marty has always had a thing for Elise, and Gazza and I always flirt. There has always been a common connection.”
“That doesn’t answer the why. Is our sex life not good enough? Do I not float your boat or something?”
“What? God, how could you think that? Our sex life is amazing.”
“Then why do it?”
Sighing, she whispered, “Honestly, I don’t know. When I think about it now, it’s frigging stupid. I fucked up, Dave. I did a dumb thing, we all got swept up in the moment. Christ, it doesn’t have to be the end.”
“Yeah, and if I went off for a dirty weekend with some other bird, you’d be okay with that?”
“You were! Maike was right there, in bed beside you. God, she slept in the same bed with you. Weren’t you at least a little tempted?”
“No, because I made a promise to you when we married. I’m not an arsehole.”
“And I suppose I am?” she sobbed.
“Yes, you are. You fucked me over. You spent the weekend banging my best friend. Jesus, did he even put up a fight?”
“Yes, he was shocked until I told him what was happening. Once he got his head around it, he was into it.”
“So the sex was good was it?”
Guiltily she mumbled, “I don’t want to talk about it. Not unless you’re into it.”
“Forget it. Go to sleep. In the morning we will decide who is staying and who is leaving.”
She broke down crying. I pulled the blankets up over my head, and tried to go to sleep.
Kelly was up before me. Breakfast was already on the table. She again looked spectacular. Nothing sexy, but nobody wears a pair of yoga pants like her.
She gave me a warm smile. “Hi, babe, breakfast is up.”
As we finished eating, she announced. “Dave, I think part of the problem is this isn’t just between you and me. It’s the whole group. We all need to sit down together. They can help us get through this.”
Stunned, I snapped, “Like hell they can. If I see any of them at the moment I will not be responsible for my actions.”
She flinched nervously. “Dave, we need to talk, get everything out in the open. They want to help us get through this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. Everybody involved in this let me down. Every single one of you betrayed me. Honestly, if I see any of them, I am going to explode.”
Her face twitched anxiously as she spluttered, “Hon, I invited them over. They will be here any minute.”
“You did what? Oh, you fucking bitch. Get them on the phone, tell them not to bother. I am warning you. There will be trouble.”
“I can’t, they will be here soon.”
Grabbing my phone and wallet I snarled. “Then I am getting out of here. Christ, you are a fucking bitch, Kelly.”
She jumped in front of me. “Please, just stay and talk. There’s no harm in talking this through. They are our best friends. They want to say sorry, as well.”
“Sorry, my arse. Fucking Gary is just going to take his chance to throw what happened in my face.”
“No, you have it all wrong. Now he knows what happened, he is angry and sorry. He has been trying to call you.”
Her hands gripped my arms tightly. “Please, Dave, I’m begging, just stay and talk.”
“Kelly, If they walk in here, I will be so fucking angry, I will not be responsible. I suggest you either rush down now and intercept them, or let me go.”
She dropped her arms by her sides in defeat. “Okay, I’ll go and meet them in the car park.”
I nodded, “Good.”
She quickly pulled on a jacket and disappeared out the door. I flopped on the sofa. All this tension and drama. I felt terrible.
It would have been less than half an hour and the front door opened. I glanced over to see Kelly ushering in Elise, Gary, Marty and Maike. Elise walked in first and walked slowly towards me. “Hi, Dave, sorry, don’t be angry with Kelly. We talked her into letting us in. We all want to help; like it or lump it, we do need to talk.”
I jumped up and screamed at the top of my voice, “Get out. Get the fuck out of my house. You bunch of slimy fucks are not welcome.”
Elise’s face paled, and she jumped back. The fear clearly visible. Maike, Marty and Kelly stood by the door, Maike edging backwards through the still open escape portal.
Gary walked towards me. “Mate, settle down, let’s not overreact. We are just here to talk, to say sorry for what happened.”
“Fuck off!” I barked my voice breaking with the intensity of my shout.
He kept walking towards me. “Come on, Bro. Talk to me.”
“Gary, one more step and I promise you, I will knock your fucking block off.”
Elise interjected, her voice nothing more than a squeak, “Dave, let us help.”
“Get out you filthy fucking slut.” In full flight, I screamed. “You fucking disgust me. Get out, before I throw you out.”
Her face dropped and she yelped with a shocked snarl, “What did you say? What did you just call me?”
“A cheating filthy fucking slut.” I screamed in her face. “A disgusting fucking whore.”
Gary reached out his hand. “Settle down mate. There’s no need for name calling.”
His face looked smug, the anger overflowed and I swung hard. My fist collided with the side of his face.
His head spun from the impact, and just like the gym the other day, the pain in my fist fuelled my anger more. I swung again with my right fist, and this time I connected with his nose and hand.
There was blood. Elise and Kelly both screamed loudly. Marty made a dash to try and grab me, but not before I landed two more blows. Not clean shots, but good enough to send him reeling. He collapsed on the tiled floor, blood flowing freely from his busted nose and his split lip. His eye was already swollen, blood dripping from his ear.
Marty grabbed me, trying to wrap me in his arms, but I swivelled and pushed him away. As he tottered backwards, I swung again and connected with his jaw.
He tripped over Gary, who was still laying on the floor.
Elise screamed and screamed. A crowd gathered in the hallway. I heard somebody say, “Ring the cops.”
Kelly just stood and watched. Her hands raised, covering her face. Our eyes locked and I could see the horror.
Elise swung her hand bag at me. “You fucking bully. Christ, we only came to help.”
“Yeah, well get the fuck out. You are no longer my friends, and you’re not welcome here.”
Maike rushed over and helped Marty up. They both stared at me with horrified expressions. Maike sobbed, “I’m sorry, Dave. We just wanted to try and help.”
Taking a deep breath, I rasped hoarsely, my voice broken with the emotion, “Maike, you betrayed me, I thought we were friends. Please, just leave, okay.”
She nodded as Marty wiped away some blood from his mouth. Marty muttered angrily, “I’m sorry, mate.”
“Not as sorry as me, now get out.”
Elise had helped Gary to his feet. He staggered back against the wall. “Mate, I’m sorry. It was all just a misunderstanding.”
“Like fuck, you had the chance to clear it up. All you had to do was call me. Tell me what was going on. It could have been stopped right there and then.”
He nodded, his head down. Elise went to say something and I cried out angrily. “Get out. Elise, you are the fucking worst. This was all your fucking idea. I hope you burn in hell. Now fuck off back home and crawl under whatever stone you crawled out from beneath.”
They all traipsed out giving Kelly hugs as they walked past. She shut the door and leaned back against it. “Bloody hell, Dave. That was totally uncalled for, completely unnecessary.”
“He got what he deserved, I just wish I could have done the same to Elise.”
“God, you don’t mean that. They’re the reason we met.”
“Yeah, and look where that got me. Three wasted years.”
“Don’t say that, babe. We can survive this.” She sighed. “It might take a while before Gazza talks to you again, though.”
Shocked, I spluttered, “Talks to me? Jesus, Kelly, if he ever tries to talk to me again, this will get repeated. I will never talk to him again. Never.”
Just then, there was a loud banging on the front door. “Police, open up please.”
Kelly looked shocked. “Oh shit, let me talk to them. I will try to explain.”
Ignoring her I walked over and let them in. It took an hour or more for me to explain. At the end, they took photos of the blood stains, took statements and details. Finally, I was told I had to leave. They weren’t arresting me at that point, but that might happen, depending on what the victim’s statement concluded. Protocols demanded that they couldn’t let me stay after a domestic violence incident.
I ended up at Mum’s. She was sympathetic, but angry. She hated violence for any reason. It also meant my sisters converged on the house and took their chance to lambaste me again. It was a concerted attack from all of them.
I was glad to get back to work. Well, that is until I got into the office. Paul was not happy with me. It was a very cold day. Now it was going to cost me my job as well. I could see from the expression on Paul’s face that having his son’s assailant working there wasn’t sitting well.
At the end of the day I walked into his office. I handed him my resignation. He took a quick glance and said. “I’m sorry it came to this, David. I don’t know what the hell you were all playing at, but these things never end well. I will make sure that all your entitlements are paid. If you need a referee, I will give you a good reference.”
We ended with a handshake. It was a sad end. He had been like a second father to me.
Back at Mum’s, I had a quick look at my finances. We had savings. We had been saving madly for a house to buy, so there was money in the account. There was enough in my half to last me six months or more, especially if I stayed with Mum.
Staying with Mum was hard, though. She lectured me every day. Go home, talk to Kelly. Her relationship with Kelly seemed tighter than ever. They talked incessantly on the phone. Mum even said one night, “I am inviting Kelly over for dinner tonight.”
“No worries, Mum. I can go out and get something.”
“What, you won’t even stay and talk to her?”
“No, Mum, it’s over.” Thankfully she cancelled. I heard her on the phone telling Kelly not to bother.
The weekend was my escape. The mountain bike club had a ride planned for Saturday. I couldn’t wait.
It was a ball-blaster. We went up through the Waitakere ranges. It was a wild balls-to-the wall race.
After as we were all loading our bikes away. One of the regulars, Roger and I, ended up talking. When I said I was looking for a job, he said, “Come and work for me, mate. You’d be perfect, and let me tell you, the money is amazing.”
Roger was a real estate agent. I knew a little about selling houses. Kelly and I had spent so many hours going to open homes, auctions, ploughing through pages of for sales. Yeah. It appealed to me.
That’s how I started my new job. I had to start at the bottom, and I had to study to get my license. At first, I was managing rental properties, but it was a start.
Thankfully, the police never pressed charges against me for Gary’s assault; it would have stopped me getting my license.
Mum, of course, kept up her attack, and my sisters pitched in. Kelly rang me every day and eventually they broke me down. Mum convinced me to allow Kelly to come for dinner. Mum acted as mediator and made sure the anger was kept in check.
This was hard. I missed Kelly every day. I did love her. She had been my whole life. We did everything together and we were perfect, well, that’s what I used to think. Seeing Kelly again brought back the memories, the emotions: love, and yes, hate. You cannot live with and love somebody that deeply and not still have feelings for them. The night went okay, no magical solution, but warmth and some conversation.
She came back the next night, and the night after that. Then, she offered to cook. It seemed strange, walking in at home. Nothing had changed physically, but it was different. It no longer felt like home.
As we ate, Kelly put it out there. “Dave, I want you back. I want our lives back. Please, can we try again?”
“I don’t know, Kelly. Yes, a lot of the anger has gone, but I still feel betrayed. I’m not sure I can get past that.”
“Can we at least try? Please babe, give us a chance.”
Her expression tightened as she whispered. “What do we have to lose? If we try again and find we can’t do it, what have we lost?”
We finished up on the sofa with our wine. “Dave, I love you. I can’t imagine life without you. I want the life we talked about, that we dreamed of. I still want that. Kids, a home. I want it all.”
Yeah, I softened. Time had dissipated the hurt. “Kelly, if I move back here, there would be some rules.”
She nodded expectantly. “Anything, you name it. I will do anything.”
“Well, number one. If I move back in, I do not want Gary, or Elise around. We would have to cut them out completely: Gary, Elise and M&M. They have to be excised from our lives, expunged, like the horrible lesions they are.”
“What, but, why? They’re our best friends.”
“No, they were never friends. Friends don’t do that sort of shit.”
She looked lost, defeated. She nodded slowly. “Okay, then what do we do for friends?”
“We have others, we just broaden our net. Meet new people. The biggest one is, we have to communicate. This shit must never happen again.”
She nodded. “Of course. That’s a given.”
On those grounds, I moved back home. It wasn’t all plain sailing. We were living together, but the intimacy was gone. It took several weeks before I felt like we were in a sound enough position to recommence lovemaking. It started well, we kissed, our naked bodies pressed together, but as I kissed and sucked my way down to her boobs, my mind filled with images of that night. The love bites she tried to camouflage. Sucking her nipples turned into a bite, and she winced painfully as my teeth tugged at her pointy nips.
My hand found its way between her legs and it was terrible. Her normally swollen and slippery slit had been replaced with a dry wasteland. I had to spit on my fingers to get them into her pussy. She clung on tightly as I rolled her onto her back and assaulted her, fucking her grotesquely with as many fingers as I could jam into her cowering hole.
Her whimpers tuned to moans. Was it pleasure? Did she get off on this rough shit? I climbed quickly between her legs, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck; it was like she was afraid to let go, her fingers clawed at my flesh.
I stroked my cock several times to get it hard enough to enter. Even with my brutal assault, or maybe because of it, she was hardly juicy.
I pushed inside, and she was tight and clingy. My hips started that casual fuck, the thrusting becoming a little more urgent, my driving rhythm beating harder. All I could see was her face twisted in ecstasy as Gary fucked her, and it enraged me. My casual thrusting turning into a fierce onslaught.
Grabbing her legs behind her knees I lifted them and pressed them hard against her tits, her body bent in two and I began my real attack. I thrust hard, brutally, viciously. I was no longer making love, or fucking her. I was raping her, and it was nasty.
I pressed her legs so hard they went under her arm pits. “Oh fuck,” she screamed, “God, stop, stop. What are you doing? Dave, stop please.”
Her cries drove me on and I punished her, fucking her, pumping her hard with my swollen cock. It was my axe as I jammed it into her as far as I could. With my eyes closed I smashed our bodies together until I felt my balls bubbling and I emptied them deep into her womb.
Panting breathlessly, I collapsed beside her. Only then did I hear her cries of pain. Her body wracked with uncontrollable sobs. As soon as she could get control of her body, she jumped out of bed screaming, “You fucking bastard. You animal. You fucking prick.”
She was gone in a flash. I heard her in the living room sobbing. Uncontrollable tears flowed.
I felt so embarrassed I could only lie there. I wanted to go out and say something, but I couldn’t move. Guilty and ashamed, I just laid there. I didn’t even know I was capable of such atrocities.
It took her about an hour before she crawled back into bed. “What the hell was that about, Dave?”
Fighting back tears, I responded. “I’m sorry, Kelly. I guess I wasn’t ready for that. All I could see in my head was you and Gary doing the same thing. It was like the day he turned up here. It was fury. I’m sorry.”
She wrapped her arms around me and cried along with me. “No, I’m sorry. God, this whole thing has been a nightmare. All I want is our loving caring marriage back. Can we please do a reset. Go back in time before this happened?”
“I’ll try. I can’t promise anything, but I will try.”
Sex did get better, but the intimacy was gone. We no longer made love. We fucked, or had sex. I used to love eating her pussy. I used to spend ages just lapping her sweet gorgeous little pussy, but now the thought repulsed me.
She noticed, as well, and actually asked me several times. I never did. Other forces were at play, as well. Yes, she kept her promise about keeping the others out of our lives, but nothing runs smoothly. Mum’s sixtieth birthday was coming up, and one day as we were all at her place planning for the party, she announced, “David, my love, I want to invite Paul, and Gary. Will that be all right?”
I could see Kelly’s eyes on me as I bit back. “No, Mum, It won’t be all right. Not with me.”
She sighed wistfully. “Sweetheart. He was your best friend. Don’t you think it’s time to bury the hatchet?”
“If he turns up here, while I am here. The hatchet will definitely get buried.”
My eldest sister, Lilly, muttered, “You’re a bloody child, Dave. He’s our friend, too, and Mum wants to invite him.”
“Well, she can’t.”
Mum intervened. “No need to fight. I’m sorry you still feel so bitter. I hope time will heal that wound.”
A month after the party we received an invitation to Elise’s birthday party. It turned up in the mail and Kelly left it laying on the kitchen table for me to see. I just ignored it. Three days passed before she said. “Did you see the invite to Elise’s party?”
“Yes, I saw it.”
“Well, what do you think? Can we go?”
“No, we can’t.”
“Dave, please. This would be the perfect chance to put everything behind us. There will be lots of people there. You don’t have to talk to anyone you don’t want to. She was my best friend.”
“I don’t care who’s going to be there. We aren’t.”
I think she saw the hatred in my voice. Over the next several moths there were lots of similar invitations to events. Any that I knew, or thought, Elise or Gary would be attending, I refused. It was the arrival of Kelly’s twenty-eighth birthday that stretched the rubber-band past breaking point.
With the date fast approaching, she asked, “Can we have a party for my birthday?”
I nodded. “Of course we can. It would be nice to get some people in.”
She didn’t wait. She dived straight in. “Can I invite Maike?”
“No.”
Why not? She did nothing wrong?”
“She did, actually. She betrayed me as much as any of you. She knew what was going on and said nothing.”
“That’s not fair, she didn’t know what to do. It’s not fair to blame her.”
“You can paint it anyway you want, but she knew what was happening. She could have told me at any time and I could have tried to stop it. She chose not to.”
“Babe, I want to invite the whole gang. I want our lives back. Remember all those wonderful parties we had? All the evenings we spent together? I want that back.”
“Not happening, Kelly. Sorry but the answer is no.”
“Christ, you have become so rigid and insufferable. I have rights, as well. You are not the only person in this relationship. What I want is important, as well.”
“I don’t know what to say, Kelly. If you can’t abide by your commitment to me then perhaps we should reassess.”
She said nothing.
The following evening she returned home from work and she looked terrible. She put down her hand bag and stood leaning against the breakfast bar counter. “Dave, I want a divorce.”
I was getting some lettuce from the fridge at the time. I stood slowly, staring at her. “Okay.”
“What, that’s it? No fight, no shouldn’t we try harder? That’s it?”
“Kelly, we tried. I was ready to walk away after you cheated. Trying again was your idea. I have tried to make this work, but it’s too hard.”
“You tried, bullshit, what have you tried? You turned your nose up at counselling.”
When she got like that there was nothing to do but hold on. “You have tried nothing. All I wanted was our friends back in our lives. The others had no difficulties with what happened. You are the only one who complained. Maike never got anything out of that weekend, but she didn’t kick up a fuss like this.”
“I don’t care about Maike, I don’t care about other people. I do care about us, about you. Let’s not forget, you agreed to leave them behind. If you want to choose them over me, then what can I say?”
“I’m not choosing them, but I can’t live like this. We have no friends, no social life. But that is only one element of this. Our lovemaking sucks. We don’t make love any more, all we do is have sex. God, when was the last time you went down on me?”
Irritated by her laying all the blame on my doorstep I retaliated. “I’ll tell you exactly. The day before you went off on your dirty weekend with Gary and he left love bites all over your thighs. That was the last time.”
“What? Just because he went down on me you won’t? Jesus, Dave. How weak is that. He fucked me as well you know?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m well aware of that. You told me how good it was, remember?”
She shook her head, obviously unhappy with this as an outcome. What did she expect, she would demand a divorce and I would just fall at her feet, change my mind and give her whatever she wanted?
We sat together and I dragged out the papers I had already filled out. “All right, Kelly, do you want to keep the apartment?”
She nodded. “Yes, if you’re not prepared to fight, and want to move out then yes, I want it.”
“Done, I will be gone tomorrow.” I stated tersely.
“Dave, you don’t have to rush off. Why not stay till after the party?”
“Don’t you want to invite all your friends?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stay.”
“Oh yes it does. I will move tomorrow. I can get a place through work.”
She wiped away a little tear as I checked our bank balance. I’ll take ten grand, that’s half, are you going to be okay with that?”
She nodded again. “I’ll take my car and my bikes. You keep all the furniture. Is that fair?”
She nodded again. “I’m sorry, Kelly.”
“Me too. Dave, I hate this, I feel like you just gave up.” Her whole body shivered as she sobbed.
“I know I fucked up, Dave, I know it was a mistake, a stupid thing to do, but I have apologised over and over. I have said sorry so many times it’s not funny. Was it too much to ask that we actually tried?”
“I don’t know what to say. I tried to forgive you, but in the end it was too much. I couldn’t do it. I hate you as much today for what you did as the day it happened. Sorry, Kelly.”
“Could we at least try to be friends? I’m still going to be part of your family’s lives. I love your Mum, and Di and Lilly. They are my sisters.”
“No, once I walk out that door, I’m gone. If you want to be part of their lives, all good and well, but I will never speak to you again.”
Her look of horror was like I had slapped her. “Christ, you cold bastard. I never knew you could turn into this evil unbending arrogant shit. You used to be the most caring warm wonderful man. Now, you’re just an empty shell.”
“Yeah, well look in the mirror next time and ask yourself why.”
“Oh, for heavens sake, it was just sex. The others, even Maike, were able to accept and move on. It was always just going to be a one off thing, just a wicked little adventure. It didn’t mean anything. The world didn’t end.”
“It did for me. Look Kelly. It wasn’t some exotic adventure, there was no fun in it for me. I think I might leave now. I’ll come back for my clothes and personal stuff tomorrow.”
“Where are you going to stay?”
“Mum’s place.”
“What are you going to tell her?”
“The truth, you asked for a divorce and I agreed.”
“You’re going to make me the bad guy then.”
“Nope, I’ll say it wasn’t working. We tried and failed. End of story.” I walked over, leaned in close and gave her a kiss. “Goodbye, Kelly. Live a good life.”
I walked out and never looked back. My mother was disappointed. There were tears.
I decided to move to Herne Bay. I was able to find a flat through work and was moved within the week. Life started again. I tried to treat it like that: Wipe Kelly from my memory banks. I moved offices as well. I now had my license and a position arose in the Ponsonby branch.
Turns out, I was actually pretty good at selling real estate. I worked well with numbers and what I lacked in syrupy charm, I made up for with good business acumen. I also liked to work out good outcomes for people.
On a personal level, I did date a few birds, nothing serious. I managed to get enough sex to stop my balls from exploding. It was difficult, though. The one thing I hadn’t managed to do was excise the demons that Kelly infested my head with. Trust: I now struggled to trust women. I developed a hard shell to protect myself.
That changed though when I met Tabitha, Tab, as we all called her. She was the new property manager in our office. She was a few years older than me, but still an attractive woman. Fit and active, she had a nice figure. She was a cheeky bugger, flirty but good fun.
At first I didn’t see her as a romantic interest, not because of her age, more that she was so outgoing, so flirty. Not just with me, but with all the men in the office. I didn’t like that she flirted with the married men. I was the only single guy. The rest were all married.
Things were a bit tense at first. I think she was used to all the guys falling at her feet. I mean she wasn’t startling, she was attractive without being a stand-out. What separated her from other women was her personality. She was such good fun.
After she had been there a few months she caught me in the lunch room. “What are you doing for the weekend?” she asked.
“Going mountain biking, What about you?”
“Oh, not much. Netball in the afternoon, then going out with friends for dinner.”
“Dinner huh, a date, is it?”
“No, just dinner with friends. Would you like to come along? I could use a partner, that way they won’t try to set me up with somebody.”
“You want me to be your decoy, a pretend boyfriend?”
With a warm smile she said. “Yeah, something like that.”
“I would, but I have to get my hair done.”
With mock sadness she replied. “Why are you playing hard to get? You know you want me.” The hint of a smirk made her mouth twitch.
I chuckled softly before saying, “I want you, do I?”
“Well, don’t you?”
“No, not really. You’re not my type.”
“Oh, you have a type, do you?”
“Yeah, anyway, you’re not interested in me. I’m not married.”
That made her choke back her response. “What did you say?” Her voice a venomous hiss.
“Look, Tab, I’ve seen you flirting with all the married guys. Seems to me you have no scruples, or ethics. I’m not judging, it just doesn’t appeal to me.”
“Not judging, bullshit. You seem to have made your mind up about me before we even get to know each other.”
She looked pissed off. “Why did you say that? Just because I flirt a little, I am some kind of slut? Jesus, do you think I’m sleeping with them?”
I shrugged. “As I said, I’m not judging, just making an assessment.”
“I like to flirt, big deal.”
“Sorry, Tab, I just like my women to have a little more substance, a little depth.”
“God, you judgmental prick. I rescind my invitation. You can go fuck yourself.”
She stormed off, leaving her coffee on the table. Wow, intense.
We stayed away from each other for a while, keeping our distance. One day as I was leaving I found her trying to change a flat tyre.
“Need a hand?” I asked.
She glanced up snarkily. “Not from you.”
I bent down and helped her anyway. There was no way she was going to get the lug nuts undone. As I pushed her out of the way, I asked. “Don’t you have roadside assist?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t remember the number.”
I changed the tyre and she gave me a nod of acknowledgement. “Thanks, appreciated.”
I waved off her thanks. “No worries, glad to be of assistance.”
She gave me a smile; god, when she smiled she was pretty. “Would you let me say thanks by buying you dinner? Or don’t you eat with sluts?”
“Actually, I’m famished. It’s been a big day. So, yeah, why not.”
During dinner we talked about life and what we were doing, where we were hoping to go. She said she was planning to be the richest woman in the world. She already owned three houses.
“Three, shit, how the hell did you manage that?”
As she picked away at her food, she replied. “Hard work. I was left a small inheritance, brought my first place with a big mortgage, then when I had equity in that one, I brought another, then two years later did the same again. They are all rented out.”
“Wow, well done you.”
“Thanks, I love real estate. What about you?”
“I got into it by chance. It was never my dream job; I just sort of fell into it.”
“Well you’ve done well. You are definitely making every post a winner. The guys in the office all love you.”
When I didn’t respond she asked. “How come you’re not married? You seem to be a good catch, not bad looking for a stuck up bastard, successful.”
“I’m divorced, actually.”
“Oh shit, sorry. What happened.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, that’s why you’re so cold. She hurt you, aye?”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it. What about you?”
“Oh, no secret. I have been in a few relationships, but I guess I am hard work, or something. Maybe I just choose arseholes.”
We both laughed and we moved on. That led to a couple of other dates, and eventually, after a few too many drinks we ended up in bed. It was frantic, passionate and the best sex I could remember.
Laying together in post coital bliss she let out a huge breath. “Wow, that was good.”
“Good, shit, I can hardly breathe. You were incredible.”
That was it, we sort of became an item. It was weird. I never really considered her my girlfriend. It was like we were both fulfilling a need for the other. Not just a sexual need, although that was certainly up there. No, it was an emotional connection. Not love, but really good friends.
Tab was a mad keen netballer. Her club, Rifles, won the Auckland championships and to celebrate they held a huge party. “Come on, Dave, I don’t want to go alone.” She pleaded. “If I don’t have a date, they will set me up with some loser.”
“Yeah, okay already. I’ll go.”
“What, no fight? Were you worried about my friends setting me up with somebody else?”
“No, I just didn’t want you to look like the loser you are.”
That’s how I ended up at their party. When I walked in I was blown away. It was a huge deal, they had a live band and there must have been two hundred people there.
Tab was quick to hold my hand and lead me over to her group of friends who were all gathered in a group over by the bar. It was dark, strobe lights flashing, disco balls, so hard to make out faces.
Tab pushed me into a circle of about five or six women and a few men. “Hey, bitches, this is my date, Dave. Dave, meet the team.”
There was a chorus of hey, and hi. The guys all shook my hand and welcomed me into their little circle. It was when Tab introduced me to the girls that I got the shock.
“Dave, what are you doing here?” Kelly asked.
“What the fuck are you doing here, is more the question?” I spat back with real animosity.
She smiled, swished her hands down by her side. “I’m the wing attack.”
Tab looked confused, and asked. “Do you two know each other?”
I nodded, “Yeah, we’re old acquaintances. I need a drink, I’m going to the bar, do you want something?”
She gave me a strange look before nodding. “Yeah, Southern Comfort and L&P thanks.”
I nodded and walked off. Fuck, that was the first time I had seen her since I walked out that day. I certainly didn’t expect to meet her there.
Leaning across the bar, I ordered the drinks and saw Kelly and Tab in a deep huddled conversation. Fuck. I watched them as They both gave me furtive looks, The shocked look on Tab’s face said it all. Then the other girls leaned in and the whole group was getting the story of our divorce.
Kelly, if anything, had got better looking. I’m not sure how, whether it was the netball, or whether she was taking better care of herself, but she looked amazing. Her hair glistened, her skin radiated in the light. Her figure, holy shit, she looked hot.
I carried Tab’s drink back and handed it to her before turning to walk away. She grabbed my arm, “Hey, where are you going?”
“I’m just going to have a look around. Leave you to talk to your friends.” I walked off in a hurry. I felt unsettled by Kelly’s presence. I had tried so hard to push her out of my mind, but just a simple meeting and I was trembling and all the old emotions flowed to the surface.
I found a bunch of guys watching football and fell in with them. I watched Tab and her group as they laughed and joked. Kelly and her seemed to be pretty close, they hung onto each others arms as they giggled and set about getting smashed.
The drinks in their group were flowing. It was the first time in six years Rifles had won the competition, so the drinks were going down fast.
There was a presentation for them up on the stage, they all received medals, and a large cheer from the crowd.
After they got down, Tab finally wandered over and dragged me out onto the dance floor. It was all fast bouncy stuff, and we were soon joined by her team mates, including Kelly.
Tab held onto my hand as we bounced around. Kelly kept pushing into us. She was pretty drunk. Tab opened her arms and grabbed her dragging her between us. Having her there pissed me off, so I wriggled out of Tab’s arms even although she tried to stop me.
I stumbled away and she yelled out. “Hey, where are you going?”
“Toilet.” I called back over my shoulder. I did go to the loo, but then headed back to the bar. As I was waiting for my drink Tab came staggering drunkenly over. She fell against me as I propped up the bar. “Why are you hiding over here. Come on over and hang with the team.”
“No, it’s your night. You should enjoy it with your teammates.”
“But I want you to meet them all, I want to show you off.”
“No, I’ll give it a miss, thanks all the same.”
“No, you have to come.” She tugged on my arm, “Come on, don’t worry about Kelly. She told us the story. We don’t care.”
She was pretty drunk, so I just pushed her away. “Stop it, Tab, you’re making a fool of yourself.”
She snatched her hand out of mine and snapped. “ME! It’s you that’s being the dumb arse.”
“Well, if that’s the case I think I’ll go.”
I threw back my drink in one easy go and trudged off out the door. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for a taxi.
I curled up in bed and tried to get to sleep. It was hard; seeing Kelly stirred up thoughts and emotions I hoped I left behind. I managed to convince myself I had moved on, but seeing her again, no, I hadn’t.
I did manage to get to sleep, god knows what time it was when I was woken by the pounding on my apartment door. I stumbled out to find Tab, drunk, messed up and looking very sorry for herself.
I dragged her in before the neighbours complained.
I made her a coffee as she complained, “Why did you run off?”
“I have a ride tomorrow and I didn’t want a late night.”
“Nothing to do with Kelly, then?” She groaned.
“Forget Kelly, I have.”
“No you haven’t.” She teased. “I saw the look in your eye. You’re still burning a torch for her, aren’t you?”
“No. She is just a speck of dust on my rear vision mirror. She means nothing to me.”
We finished our coffee in silence. “Can I stay the night?” she asked, as I took away her empty cup.
“Yeah, of course.”
I helped her get undressed as she staggered around drunkenly. The moment we lay down in bed she started complaining. “Oh shit, the world’s spinning.” She giggled a little, “Slow down world,, shit, I want to get off.”
I thought she was going to be sick, but some how she managed to keep it down and in no time flat was sound asleep.
I let her sleep in as I got up, did some laundry and started breakfast. She eventually surfaced. “Oh god, my head. Shit it’s pounding.”
I passed her a coffee and a couple of painkillers. “Oh thanks, Honey.”
We sat at the table and started on breakfast. Part way through she said. “So, you and Kelly, aye? Wow I would never have guessed.”
“It is history, Tab. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“She must have really hurt you. What happened?”
She looked sincere, but I saw the way she and Kelly were talking the night before. “You already know. I saw Kelly telling you.”
She nodded as she bit into her toast. “Yeah, sorry. I wanted to get your side of the story, that’s all.”
“Okay, what did she tell you?”
“She said you broke up because of some twisted swapping weekend or something. Honestly, it didn’t make sense.”
“She cheated on me. There was no swapping. She went off for a dirty weekend with my best friend. That’s the truth.”
“Shit, that’s not what she said. She said you swapped partners for the weekend and you got pissed off because the woman you ended up with didn’t put out.”
“That’s bullshit. I told you what happened.”
“You did go off with another friends wife, though, didn’t you?”
“Yes, we went mountain biking.”
“Were you supposed to swap?”
“No, I didn’t even find out about it until I got home.” She seemed mystified, so I went through the whole sordid ordeal. She listened intently as I poured it all out.
“Jeez, Dave, I’m sorry. It seems like a shitty thing too do. Why didn’t the girls talk to you guys first?”
“I don’t know. The whole thing was fucked up. She’s past history, Tab. I want it to stay that way. I promised myself I would never speak to any of them again, and up until last night, I managed to do that.”
“You know we’re best friends, right?”
“What about Elise?” I asked.
“Yeah, Elise hangs around, and they’re tight, but Kelly is my best friend.”
“Funny, I haven’t heard you talk about her before.”
“Yes you have, I just never mentioned her name. I’m sorry she hurt you.”
“Ah, it’s all good, I’m over her.” I gave her a nervous glance. “I wasn’t joking about the bike ride. I have to go, sorry.”
She smiled and nodded. “I can take a hint.”
Work was pretty busy over the next week or so. I had a couple of really good sales and I picked up some new listings. Tab and I caught up a couple of nights and she stayed over a couple of nights. Friday, she slipped into my office just before close up. “Hey, there’s a party tomorrow night. Wanna come?”
“Um, yeah, okay. Where is it, do I have to get a present or anything?”
“No, you’ll be all right. It’s one of the girls on the team’s birthday, but you don’t know her, so no present required. I will get something for both of us.”
As she walked out she added. “Kelly will be there, I hope that’s not a problem?”
I wanted to say something, but I swallowed it. Saturday, I had a couple of open homes, and didn’t finish till late. All day I had been tossing around what to do. I didn’t want to start socialising with Kelly. I packed up my signs and shit, and as I climbed in the car I sent Tab a text. “Not feeling well, sorry, can’t make it tonight.”
I was just pulling into my driveway when my phone rang. “What was the message about? Don’t I even warrant a call? Christ, just a text?”
“Sorry, I was finishing up some open homes. I just feel like shit. Sorry.”
“Yeah, I get that, but why no call?”
“I was busy.”
I hung up. This whole thing was messed up. I disconnected the call. I didn’t want to offend her, but I was getting irritated.
I stacked away all the gear and was getting something to eat when there was a bang on the door. As I swung it open, Tab barged in. “Why did you hang up on me?”
I closed the door behind her. “Look, Tab, perhaps we should reassess things. I’m busy, you’re busy. Let’s take a breath.”
She gave me a stern glare. “Is this because you don’t want to go out with me, or is it that you don’t want to see Kelly?”
“I just want some space, okay. I’m not ready for a relationship. I need some space.”
She looked shocked. “Dave, we’re friends, nothing more. Jeez, I didn’t even know we were in a relationship. Just be honest with me.”
I grabbed her by the shoulders and held her at arms length. “Tab, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. I’m not feeling well, and I just want to chill out.”
She snapped. “Fine, have it your way. See you at work.” She stormed off, slamming the door behind her.
Monday she didn’t even talk to me. With the rest of the team she was the same chirpy flirtatious bundle of joy, but with me, she was distant.
I missed her, I thought I would enjoy the space, but watching her interact with all the others made me feel left out. It was difficult, we never made any commitments, we were both free to date other people, not that I had.
Real estate can be quite competitive, and our company, which was an international franchise, had annual awards. Well, we won the most successful branch award. We turned over the most money.
Consequently, we were all invited to the awards night. Luckily, they were being held in Auckland. The office was abuzz with excitement. It was going to be formal attire, a proper night out.
Of course, it started the who’s going with who. Tab and I had made no secret of the fact we were sort of seeing each other, and that made it difficult to ask out anyone else. May, our receptionist was pretty hot. Early twenties gym-junky body, big baby blues and a fashion icon. A very delectable package, but now I couldn’t invite her.
I tried a couple of times to corner Tab, but she was making life difficult. I decided to go to her apartment and ask her properly. I hated that we couldn’t even talk any more. I missed her.
Knocking on the door, I straightened up and waited.
She swung open the door, she looked surprised as she leaned against it, blocking the entrance. “Well, Dave, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Um, well I wanted to talk, actually.”
She moved aside and swung her arm in a welcoming gesture. I walked in only to see she had company. “Oh don’t mind them, it’s just us girls.”
Kelly gave me a nervous smile. “Hi, Dave.”
Elise gave me a not so pleasant smile. “Hello, Dave, long time no see.”
I nodded a curt acknowledgement. Tab asked, “So what did you want to talk about?”
Now I was trapped. “Oh, nothing important, just a catch up.”
She walked over to her drinks cabinet and got a glass. She poured and handed a glass of wine to me. “You may as well have a drink with us. You can be one of the girls.”
Kelly giggled as I accepted the glass. Elise said rather curtly. “Real estate, aye? I would never have guessed that. It must be hard for an introvert like you, mixing with people all the time.”
I was about to say something to defend myself when Tab jumped in. “Dave is actually our most successful agent. He has the best figures for the last couple of months. If he had been selling for the whole year, he might have won the National title.”
Elise looked taken aback. “Bloody hell, I can’t imagine it.”
Kelly joined in. “Well congratulations, Dave, I’m glad you’re doing all right.”
I nodded accepting her comment. I drank my wine and announced. “I’ll leave you to it. Perhaps we could talk at work tomorrow?”
She gave me a funny glare. “Why? I didn’t think you were interested, I thought you wanted space, or something?”
“Tomorrow, perhaps lunch, or something?”
She shook her head. “No, if you want something, you can ask me here and now. The girls don’t mind, do you girls?”
Elise had a very smug nasty grin on her face, Kelly looked uncomfortable. I decided, what the hell. “I came over to ask if you wanted to go to the awards with me. Nothing special.”
Her face softened and she put on a mock contemplative look as she rubbed her chin. “I have already had a couple of offers, I’ll let you know tomorrow, would that be all right?”
“Of course. I’ll leave you to it.”
“You don’t have to run off, sweetheart. Stay and have another drink with us.”
“No thanks, I have stuff to do. We can catch up tomorrow.”
I put my glass down and headed for the door. She intercepted me. “Why are you rushing away?”
“You know why. Look, Tab, I don’t want to play games. We can talk tomorrow.”
She leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “All right. Tomorrow.”
I walked away, unsettled. Seeing Kelly and Elise there really made me uncomfortable.
The next day at work, Tab bustled in as she usually did, flirted with everybody and set about her day. Lunch time I walked into her office and asked. “Are you free for lunch?”
She gave me a pouty glare. “Are you sure you want to have lunch with me? What happened to wanting space?”
Scared somebody would hear, I pulled the door shut behind me. “I deserve that, Tab. I’m sorry for being a pillock. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know what came over me. I have missed you.”
She twirled her pen as she leaned back in her chair. “I missed you, as well. I like you, and I was enjoying getting to know you. I don’t like games either. I don’t understand why you thought I was playing games?”
“I don’t know, it’s this whole Kelly thing. I was shocked when I found out you’re friends. I went to great lengths to cut her out of my life.”
“Let me get this straight. You cut me off, because I’m friends with your ex?”
I nodded. “Yeah, sorry, like I said. I was shocked, confused.”
“So, can we actually date? I mean she is a part of my life. Can you accept that?”
“Yeah, so long as you don’t get weird when I don’t want to go somewhere because she’ll be there.”
She gave her head a shake, as if clearing her head. “Hang on, Dave, either you’ve moved on or you haven’t. Why can’t you be in the same room with her?”
Sucking in a lung full of fresh air, I hoped it would give me some courage. “Because, I’m still in the process of moving on. Shit, we’re still legally married, separated, but awaiting the final decree.”
“Sounds to me like you still have feelings for her.”
I shrugged. “I probably do. I don’t want to reconcile or anything. I hate being around her.”
Things went quiet, for a moment. I could see how unsettled she was. “Maybe this was a silly idea. I’m sorry, Tab.” I went to walk out when she said, “Don’t you want to know whether I’m going to go with you too the awards?”
With one hand on the door knob, I nodded. “Yes, that’s why I came in.”
“I would love to go with you.” she whispered. “Dave, I’ve missed you, as well.”
The awards dinner was the point from where we moved forward. It was a wonderful night and we danced, we chatted casually. We mixed and mingled. It was a real fun night. When I dropped her off and walked her to her door, she asked, “Are you coming in?”
She held the door open and as I went to walk past she threw her arms up around my neck, leaned in close and kissed me. It was an amazing kiss, a kiss to end time. Her hot body pressed against me. The blue silk dress scrunched up as she pressed in close.
Her mouth tasted of the Shiraz she had been drinking, sweet and flavoursome. Her lips were succulent and wet, her tongue a slithering sexy dance partner for my own.
My head spun as my arms circled her waist, pulling her tighter against me, her heat radiating like a soaring inferno, her breasts crushed between us.
Her hands slipped up onto my head, her fingers mussing up my hair, massaging my scalp. The kiss, god it was scintillating, hot, breathless, inviting and demanding.
I staggered a little under her assault. Our lips parted momentarily as she whimpered, “Do you want a drink, or are we going to bed?”
In response, I cupped my hands under her firm bum cheeks and lifted her off the ground. Her arms slipped down onto my shoulders and she clung on tight. Her legs lifted and circled my waist, her ankles locking as she hung there.
Staring into my eyes, she leaned her head closer and our lips collided again. It was slow, delicate, sweet and gentle, her tongue, ever the inquisitive snake, slithering and swirling.
Kicking the door shut, I staggered into the bedroom. As my knees touched the side of the bed, I leaned forward, expecting her to let go, but she refused, like a limpet, she clung on for dear life.
We fell, and I landed atop her, our kiss growing, now the gentle seductive kiss was a wildfire, a raging furnace of desire.
My heart thumped powerfully, I took my weight on my elbows and rolled us over so I was on my back.
She giggled as she sat up. Staring down at me, she wriggled her hips, grinding her pussy over my erection. Even through the flimsy material of her panties, I felt her clenching as a moist stain of desire spread across my lap.
Our eyes were locked together, her hands resting on her thighs as she writhed, grinding, wriggling.
Reaching up, I let my hands clasp each of her bouncy gorgeous breasts, her nipples scratching my fingers as I flicked and tweaked the pointy little nubs.
“Hhhhhhmmm, god yes, do that. I love you playing with my tits.”
I loved the way she let her needs be known. She was not afraid to tell me what she liked, and I loved to oblige.
As she took her weight, she reached down and lifted her dress up, exposing her gorgeous sexy body.
She leaned down, and with her eyes still locked on mine breathed, “Unclip my bra.” After a prolonged pause, she added, “Please.”
I reached behind her and fumbled with releasing her sumptuous orbs into my gentle care, my thumbs caressing and rubbing her very prominent red erect nipples.
She smiled evilly down at me as her fingers popped my buttons, pushing aside my shirt and running her hands over my chest. “Hhhhhmmmm, you have such a muscly chest,” she whispered.
“Yours is pretty good as well,” I replied.
She giggled as she tugged at my shirt. “Lift up, let’s get rid of this.”
With the shirt gone, she lay down on top of me, her beautiful boobies rubbing across my chest, her succulent lips on mine, her hips gyrating and grinding on my trapped erection.
God damn, it was torture. My cock throbbed under her clenching assault.
With a coquettish teasing smile, she unbuckled my belt. She shimmied my pants down, and I assisted by lifting and wriggling until they were scrunched up down around my knees.
Her hand grazed across the head of my cock as she guided it into her burning white hot pussy. In one smooth thrust of her hips, I was fully embedded inside her slippery slit.
She leaned forward and I pulled her down into a resumption of our kiss. It was slow, tormentingly slow, as her hips raised high enough to have just the head inside her, then slowly she sank back down. Up and down, her pussy sucked me in and clasped wantonly on my shaft. It was hot, her boobs rubbing across my chest.
With her pussy caressing my cock, it quickly became wild and wanton. She rode me, faster and faster to her orgasm, which exploded in an incendiary burst of slippery secretions.
My own orgasm was close behind hers as she lay on top of me and I thrust wildly into her, barely able to hold on.
That was the beginning of a wild night. We were both exhausted, raw and panting wildly. Sleep was a welcome relief and we slipped into the darkness coupled together, our naked bodies as one.
Things changed quickly after that. Our relationship deepened. We spent most of out time together. The only sticking point for me was her friendship with Kelly, and her broader friends circle which included both Elise, and Maike.
It became a sore point for both of us. There were, of course, parties and functions, which involved all her friends. Those, I elected not to go to, and it frustrated the hell out of Tab. It sounds so insignificant, but it built a level of tension into our fledgling relationship.
She was irritated that I wouldn’t go anywhere I knew Kelly would be.
I was annoyed that she couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to go.
Elise’s birthday party was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We were at dinner, a little restaurant on Ponsonby road. It had been wonderful. The food was good, the atmosphere intimate and friendly. We were enjoying it, well, right up until she said. “Honey, we received an invitation to a party this weekend. Are you available Saturday night?”
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t have anything planned. What’s the occasion?”
“It’s Elise’s birthday and she’s having a huge party. We are both invited.”
I felt the blood draining from my face. She knew my stance on this. We had an agreement. “Sorry, Tab, but I’m not interested.”
“Oh come on. For heavens sake, Dave, it would be nice to go to out with my partner for once. I’m sick of going to these things alone.”
“I don’t want to go; we discussed this. You said you were okay with it.”
“Yes, well I’ve changed my mind.” She reached across the table and picked up my hand in hers. “Please, Dave, I want us to have a normal life, like every other couple in the world. I’m sick of going to these things alone. I have a boyfriend, although lately it feels more like I am single again.”
“Well, we could do something else? I could take you dancing, or a movie?”
“No, these are my friends, and they were your friends as well at some point. You keep telling me you’re over Kelly, that she means nothing to you. Well here’s your chance to prove it.”
Frowning I groaned. “Tab, I am over her. I just don’t want to spend time with them. They all fucked me over, the whole bunch of them. Can’t you see why I don’t want to see them?”
“Yes, it was a stupid thing too do. I’m not defending their actions, but Kelly paid the price. She lost the man of her dreams. Her husband. She lost the one thing that she loved more than anything in the world.”
“It’s not my fault. You almost make it sound like I deserted her or something.”
“No, what I’m trying to get at is, she’s moved on, you’ve moved on. You’re adults. You should be able to be in a room together without all this baggage and anger getting in the way. Christ, it’s not like you’re the only couple in the world who’ve broken up.”
We finished up our deserts and walked hand in hand back to her place. As she made us a coffee, she asked again. “Please, I’ll make it worth your while.”
Intrigued, I sniggered. “And how would you do that?”
“What say I promised to be your sex slave for a whole weekend? I’ll do anything you ask, I will pamper you like you have never been pampered before.”
“Sex slave, huh? That does sound delightful.”
She came and curled up beside me, her head resting on my shoulder. “Please?”
“I’ll think about it, but I’m not promising anything.”
She gave me a kiss, a gentle sexy pouty little kiss. “Thank you, my love. It’s all I ask.”
We made love that night with a new intensity. It was deeper, more intimate. Afterward, we lay cuddled together as always. “Dave, can I ask? What would have happened that weekend if Maike had seduced you, told you what was happening and climbed into your sleeping bag?”
Unsettled by her question I sighed. “I would have rung Kelly and asked her not to go through with it. I would have made it very plain what the consequences were.”
“So you wouldn’t have even considered it?”
“Where is this going, Tab?”
“I don’t know. Kelly and the girls told me all about what happened and I guess I see their point. Most guys would have jumped at a chance to get into Maike’s knickers. She is a very beautiful woman.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know. It just seems wrong. If I had, it would mean accepting Kelly’s actions as being permissible.”
“Would that have been so bad? At least you would still have been married.”
I had thought the same thing a million times over since that fateful day. “Do you think I should have?”
“I don’t know, I can’t speak for you. I just wondered.”
“What if it happened to you Tab? What would you have done, if you were in my position?”
She nestled in a bit closer. “Okay, don’t get uptight. If I knew my husband was off with a very beautiful woman, who happened to be my friend, and I was seduced by a very handsome man, who I knew and respected. I probably would have gone with the flow and tried to enjoy it.”
“So you think I was in the wrong?”
“No, babe, there’s no right or wrong answer. We are all different people. I was just interested.”
Her response to my question did unsettle me. It made me question her commitment. It also made me ask that damn question again. Did I do the right thing or was I the biggest idiot on the planet? Even to that day, I still thought of Kelly. She had been the love of my life, and yes, I still felt those pangs of love, or something.
It was at lunch the next day when Tab asked again. “Well, have you made your mind up yet? Can I accept for both of us?”
“I would prefer not to go. I would be prepared to go if it wasn’t at their place. Gary is the one I don’t want to deal with. Could I say no to this but yes to the next one?”
She sounded frustrated when she replied, her voice testy. “What difference does it make? He will probably be at the next one, anyway?”
“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be at their place.”
“Please, Dave, I don’t want to go on my own.”
“Yeah, okay, but you have to promise one thing.”
With a broad smile she asked. “What would that be?”
“You have to run interference for me. Keep him away from me. Honestly, Tab, if he says anything to me, I’ll probably punch his bloody lights out.”
She flinched. “What, after all this time, you still haven’t been able to let go?”
“He was my best friend, Tab. I have known him my whole life, much longer than I knew Kelly. He knew what I would say, and do. He bloody knew, but decided to go ahead and bang her.”
“You think he knew you would be against it?”
“Yes, we were best mates. We talked about it. He knew damned well that I would never cheat on Kelly. I told him many times how much I loved her.”
“Yes, but come on, babe. He thought you were getting looked after by Maike.”
“No, he knew.”
“If that’s true, he is a real bastard. I know the girls all believe that he only went through with it because he thought it was a legitimate swap.”
“All I ask is you run interference for me. I don’t want to end up in jail.”
She kissed me. “I’ll do my best, but it’s a party. We will be separated for some of the time.”
We arrived at their new house a little late because Tab took an absolute age to get ready. I had never seen her take so much time to get dressed. I have to say, she looked gorgeous. Okay, not knock em down dead model like gorgeous, but when I looked at her she made my heart race. When I saw her walk out of the bedroom I whistled loudly and said, “Wow, holy smokes, babe. You look sensational.”
“Oh, stop it you. Everybody there will be younger and prettier than me. I’m not a silly teenager, Dave. I know Kelly and the girls are all going to look so much more beautiful than me.”
I pulled her into my arms, I kissed those sexy ruby red lips. “That is so much crap. You always put yourself down. You are beautiful.”
She gave me a smile and off we went.
I knocked on the door, hoping upon hope that Gary didn’t answer the door.
Elise opened the door and Tab jumped into her arms. “Happy birthday, spunky,” Tab yelled.
They hugged and kissed as Tab added, “Jesus, look at you. My god you look sensational.” She turned to me. “Dave, tell her. Doesn’t she look beautiful?”
I gave her a scowl and tried to ignore her. Elise hissed a sulky. “Hello, Dave.”
I acknowledged her with a shrug.
She looked immediately pissed off, but invited us in. As we walked into the room, Tab handed her the gift. “This is from Dave and me.”
Elise gave her another hug and kiss as she unwrapped the gift. “Oh my god thanks, babes.” Elise replied.
“Yes, it’s from Dave as well.”
Elise just gave me a pouty glare. We walked in and I knew everybody. I saw Kelly in the middle of a group which included M&M, and some other friends from our old circle. Tab rushed over and jumped into Kelly’s arms and they shared a hug and kiss. A couple of the guys I knew came over and we soon fell into conversation.
As we talked I spotted Gary. He saw me as well, and as I glared at him he turned away, unable to hold my gaze. That made me feel good. It probably meant he would stay out of my way.
Drinks flowed and it was actually pretty nice. I soon forgot where we were. It wasn’t until Tab floated up accompanied by Kelly. They drifted into the chat of the people I was with, but they soon evaporated and just the three of us were left standing quietly.
Kelly took me by surprise by leaning in and kissing me on the cheek. “Hey, stranger. God, I’m so glad you’re here. Thanks for coming.”
I tried to ignore her but she pressed on. “So how have you been?”
“Fine, you know. New job, lots to do.”
“Are you still doing the mountain bike thing?”
Tab interrupted. “Oh, god yes. He’s off all the bloody time.”
Kelly laughed along before saying, “Yeah, I remember.”
“So how have you been?” I asked.
She shrugged as she took a big gulp of her drink. “I’ve been doing all right. Keeping busy with work, oh and I started playing netball again, but I guess you know that?”
“Met anybody special?”
She shook her head. “No, I haven’t really been looking.”
I was going to say, “Probably getting enough sex from Gary,” but I swallowed that.
The conversation sort of got easier. Then M&M arrived. Marty stuck his hand out. “Hey mate. How’s things?”
I ignored his stuck out hand and nodded. “Good.”
Maike moved in for a hug and kiss. “Hi, Dave.”
“Hey, Maike, how have you been?”
“Good, I’m so glad you came along tonight. When Kelly said you were coming I was over the moon. We have all missed you.”
Kelly grabbed my arm. “God yes. It feels like old times having you back in the fold.”
I noticed Tab moving back out of the circle, so I reached for her hand and pulled her into my embrace. We stood side by side, my arm resting across her shoulder.
“Tab’s the only reason I’m here. If she hadn’t pressed I wouldn’t be here.” I saw Kelly give a twitch, before catching herself and smiling. “Well, we’re glad she did. It is nice to see you.”
Tab surprised me by saying, “I’m going to get a drink.” She walked off and Maike and Marty followed. Kelly moved a little closer, so we didn’t have to yell. “So how have you really been?”
“Kelly, I don’t want to do this. I am glad that you have moved on and got your shit together, but I would prefer to try and keep some degree of separation.”
I remembered that expression she gave me. She was sad. “Dave, I would like us to be friends. I’m happy you found Tab, she is amazing. Not somebody I would have expected you to choose, but I’m happy for you, and for her, as well.”
“Why did you say that, Kelly? Because of the age difference?”
“No silly, because you are so different, in many regards you are chalk and cheese. Come on, Hon, let’s be honest. You can be a bit rigid, inflexible. Tab’s is fun, outgoing, flirty and loves parties.”
“Well, maybe that’s why we get on so well.”
“Dave, I’m not trying to interfere. I am genuinely happy for you.”
“Thanks, I think.”
She hugged my arm and suddenly we were talking about our families. I didn’t have to give her an update, she was closer to my Mum than I was, but it was nice to chat without anger.
About an hour later, Tab came bustling in between us. “What have you two been plotting?” she said with a teasing giggle.
That’s when it turned to shit. Elise and Gary appeared and I felt my blood pressure climbing to bursting point.
“Well, you lot look happy.” Elise gushed. Gary walked into our huddle and stuck out his hand. “Hey mate, nice to see you.”
I ignored his handshake and turned to Tab. “What say we go get a drink aye?”
Kelly tried to intervene. “Dave, come on Hon. Hasn’t this gone on long enough? Can’t we put the past behind us?”
Elise who was a little tipsy said. “Dave, don’t spoil a great night by being rude. Gary is offering the olive branch. You guys used to be such good mates.”
Tab held onto and gripped my arm tightly. “Dave, he is trying.”
He was still standing with his hand stuck out. “Dave, come on mate. I fucked up, we all did. I want to put things right between us.”
I shook my head. “It is not happening, Gary, you screwed me over. You destroyed my marriage, you flushed nearly twenty years of friendship down the loo. You betrayed me, you better than anyone knew how I feel about that sort of shit. You knew the moment that Kelly told you what was happening that I wouldn’t do it.”
I leaned towards him so my face was right in his, and snarled. “You fucking knew, didn’t you?”
Kelly jumped between us. “You’ve got it wrong, Dave, we didn’t know, none of us knew. We all thought you would enjoy a bit of innocent fun, just like the rest of us.”
I lifted my hand and pointed my finger over her shoulder until it was poking Gary in the forehead. “You knew, didn’t you, arsehole. At least be fucking honest about it.” I snarled.
Tab grabbed my arm and dragged it down. Gary stood staring at me, everybody went quiet, the pause dragged on. “Tell them, Gary, you knew the whole weekend what was going to happen when I found out. Just tell the truth for once in your fucking life.”
He shook his head, sighed deeply, his voice barely a whisper. “No mate, I didn’t know. Come on man, we were living every man’s fantasy.”
He glared at me with a mix of contempt, or anger. “For fuck sake man, you were off with Maike, you must have told me a hundred times how she gave you a hard on. Christ, stop acting like a pompous prick.”
Elise snapped, “Dave if you’re going to be angry with anybody, it should be me. I suggested it. Kelly said no at first. It took me two days to convince her it would be fun, something we could all take into later years. It was supposed to be a bit of naughty fun, for everybody.”
“Yeah, well if you thought it was going to be fun, and everybody was going to be so into it, why didn’t you tell us?”
She shrugged, a little tear formed in the corner of her eye. “Because we wanted to surprise you all. God, you’re all red blooded men. I, we never thought for a moment you, or Gazza, or Marty would say no. Christ, who turns down a fox like Maike? No real man, that’s for sure.”
“A happily married man, that’s who.”
Gary tried again. “Mate, I didn’t think properly. I let my little head do the thinking. I was wrong and I have tried to say sorry, I’m saying sorry now. None of us meant to break up your marriage. We all knew how much you love Kelly.”
It was too much for me. I turned to Tab and kissed her. “Hon, I’ve had enough. I need to go home. Are you coming with me or staying?”
She returned my kiss and whispered, “Coming.”
As we walked out she hugged me. “Thanks for coming tonight. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s all right. It was actually nice to talk to Kelly. I could have done without Gary, but, hey. It was pleasant.”
She kissed me gently. “I’m glad.”
That sort of changed the complexion of our relationship.
It meant we spent more time together with Kelly, I didn’t particularly like it; I still didn’t feel entirely comfortable around her, but Tab wanted it, and things were so good between us I didn’t want to rock the boat.
Netball season was just around the corner, which meant lots of practice and warm up games for the girls. It meant Kelly and I were thrown together more regularly. Tab didn’t seem to care that she was forcing us to get closer, reconnect. She saw it as a good thing. She frequently lectured me about being nice to Kelly, if I said something snarly, or inappropriate. I avoided anything that Gary attended. The few that were unavoidable, he took the hint and stayed out of my way.
As the season opener drew closer, Tab’s team was invited to a preseason tournament in Tauranga, which meant she was going to be gone for the weekend. We were talking Thursday night before they were supposed to leave, and she asked, “So what are you going to do for the weekend, while I’m gone?”
Seeing a weird expression painted on her face I said. “Not sure, maybe a bike ride.”
With a playful grin she said. “Maike is going down to Raglan, apparently there’s a cool trail down there. Why don’t you go with her?”
I frowned a little and she saw my perplexed expression and gave me giggle. “Relax, I’m playing netball, nothing else. I just thought you might like to go, and I know she would enjoy the company.”
“No, I don’t think so. Not sure Marty would want me camping out with his girlfriend after the last debacle.”
“God, you are so deluded. He wouldn’t even think twice about it. What’s more, I know she would like you to go, because I already asked her.”
“Blimey, you are a busybody. Why did you do that?”
“Because I thought you would enjoy it. She showed me some video of the trail and I reckon you’d love it.” Tab and Maike had been doing a little mountain biking together, and now Tab was a self-prescribed expert.
Maike did give me a call the next day, and as much as it made me uncomfortable, I decided that the pros outweighed the cons. I picked her up on Friday night and we hit the road. It was awkward and a little cool at first, although once we hit the motorway she blurted out, “Dave, I’m sorry. I’ve never had the chance to say it properly. You were so mad at me.”
“Yeah, well, I felt let down. I felt like we were friends and you should have told me. Jeez, Maike, if I had known what was happening I could have stopped it, or at least tried to.”
She flinched as she stared at me. “I didn’t say anything because I was looking forward to it. I hoped something would happen between us. I agreed to it because I was excited, and I was glad it was you.”
That shocked me. “But, you never said anything?”
“No, because I’m an idiot, because I have suffered my whole life with low self-esteem. I have always been treated as an oddity. I know I’m not that pretty, and I am chronically shy. That weekend I battled with myself the whole time. I just didn’t know what to do.”
She started crying softly, turned her head and stared out the side window.
“Maike, you have to be kidding. You are one of the most spectacularly beautiful women I have ever met. You are gorgeous. Why would you say that?”
Wiping the tears from her eyes she sniffled. “Because that’s the way I feel. I can’t control it, I can’t turn it off. It’s like depression or eating disorders. They are mental conditions. I have always felt like the odd one out in our group.”
“Odd one out? That’s me. I understand the shy bit, because I have always suffered.”
“I know, that’s why I have always been attracted to you. I felt like we were two peas in a pod.”
“I guess I feel the same way. That’s why we always end up talking to each other. How are things between you and Marty since that weekend?”
She smiled thinly back at me. “Fine, he had a great weekend.”
“Didn’t you feel angry that he slept with Elise?”
“No, I thought I was getting the better deal. I’m just sorry it didn’t work out for us, but I’m more sorry that it meant the end of your marriage.”
I sighed as I figured out what to say. “Yeah, I’m sad as well, but hey. Maybe it was a good thing because otherwise, I wouldn’t have met Tab.”
She nodded back at me. “So long as you’re happy. Tab is a lot of fun, and so nice.”
“Sure is, I am lucky.”
“But don’t you wonder about how your life might have turned out if you stayed with Kelly?”
Nodding, I mumbled softly. “Yes, I asked that question of myself a million times. What if! But I couldn’t do it. She betrayed me, and with my best friend. There was no coming back from that.”
“Well, I just wanted to say sorry. I wanted you to know that I felt horrible, and responsible for what happened. If I had been stronger, sexier, maybe your marriage would have survived. Or at least I should have told you.”
“Doesn’t matter, Maike, let’s just have a great weekend. Thanks for being honest.”
She nodded. “I’m glad you let me back into your life. I missed you.”
The weekend turned out great. The trails were incredible, the weather held and Maike and I were able to cement our friendship.
Back home Monday morning, Tab sneaked into my office. “Hey, lover. How was your weekend? Did you rock little Maike’s world?”
“I sure did. I bet she can’t even walk straight this morning.”
She laughed. “No bullshit, how did it really go?”
“It was great actually. We talked, she apologised, I listened and, now we are friends again.”
She beamed widely. “Good, I’m glad.”
Tab and I continued to build on our relationship. She was now spending more time at my place than hers. It made sense that I asked her to move in. At first she was hesitant, but after my constant urging, she gave in.
Wow, it was weird. Living together full-time raised a few issues that I hadn’t really counted on. I was unaware of how much time Kelly spent with Tab. Suddenly, she was at our place a lot, and I mean a lot. And they talked about everything, including aspects of our relationship. Now, I didn’t mind enjoying the usual girl talk, but I did draw the line on Kelly knowing our intimate details. When I tackled Tab, she laughed with a carefree wave off her hand. “Don’t be so oversensitive, Hon. It’s just girl talk.”
“Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but she is my ex-wife.”
“She is also our friend. I can understand you being nervous about your girlfriend and your ex wife sharing details, but it’s just a bit of fun. A little ironic though, don’t you think?”
“Oh yes, the irony is not lost on me. I just don’t appreciate it.”
She tried to play it down, but it did become somewhat of a sore point with us, and it caused more than one argument.
Once the netball season started, I was soon dragged along to watch the games, which I enjoyed. That also meant going to the after game functions. Mostly they were fun, but occasionally when the girls had too much to drink, things were said. Some of those things, I wish I never heard, some of them made me very self-conscious, and on edge. It was at one particular function where I overheard Elise, who was drunk, talking to some of the girls. She was making some rather suggestive comments about Tab and a former boyfriend. They were standing around the bar in a tight huddle.
It was rather unsettling as she talked about how promiscuous Tab had been prior to meeting me. Elise was being very inappropriate. Tab wandered up and snapped at her, “Shut up, Elise, that’s personal and not for public consumption.”
“Oh don’t be silly, chicky-babe, we’re just jealous. We would all have liked to get a couple of those sexy hunks for ourselves.”
The other girls gave Tab a bit of a razz, as well. Sally asked. “Is it true? Did you have two guys at once? God, I would love that.”
Elise egged her on. “Go on, tell them.” When Tab didn’t say anything, Elise said, “Yes she did, and what’s more, they were both hunks.”
I had been behind the bar, helping the bartender connect up some beer lines. I quietly walked away feeling a bit unsettled. Would she really do that, or was it just the booze talking? Okay, we hadn’t actually talked much about our previous sex lives. She got a pretty good run down from Kelly, so she didn’t need to ask me, but I knew almost nothing about her. Shit, it wasn’t any of my business really, but for some reason that bit of information shocked me.
I tried to put it out of my mind, but it sort of sat there, burning like a hot coal having fallen from the fire. At first it singed the edges of the carpet, then smoke billowed until the glowing ember burst into flames. I wanted, no, make that needed, to know.
It was a small gathering, a dinner party, where I managed to get Elise alone. I fed her a few drinks to lubricate the vocal chords. She and I were far from friendly, maybe polite acquaintances now, but as we sat together I started to pick at the scab. “So, how long have you and Tab been friends?” I asked. “It seems like you’ve known her for years.”