 
# A Gentleman's Code

# The Tainted Series

# By T.L. Tate

Copyright 2018 by T.L. Tate

Distributed by Smashwords

Cover Photo Copyright of Hank Shiffman/Shutterstock

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

I invite you to read _all_ of my stories. Check them out @ www.TLTate.net.

Other stories in The Tainted Series:

A Gentleman's Curse

A Gentleman's Folly

A Gentleman's Pride

The Reluctant Scoundrel

The Reluctant Fool

The Reluctant Hero

If you like this story then you'll love my _Dance with the Devil_ stories! Get access to them all @ www.TLTate.net!

He held her close and she screamed. He released her and she bloomed.

### Table of Content:

### A Gentleman's Code

### Other Stories

### NDV Hotline
A Gentleman's Code

# The Tainted Series

The sound of loud music mixed with the distinct sounds of merriment and an excess of libation. Several of my neighbors came by to see what all the noise was about and why there were so many cars parked on our street, and as a result, most of them stayed. What started as a somewhat small work soirée grew into a full-blown block party. Luckily, my neighbors fired up their own grills so I wasn't stuck doing all of the cooking. Some of the older couples magically materialized extra fruit salads, casseroles and desert dishes. Some of the younger couples materialized coolers, two kegs, a few milk crates of booze and some side dishes. People came and went. Some faces were familiar from work or other neighborhood gatherings. Some weren't. Regardless, everyone seemed to be having a good time and I didn't mind the impromptu party. My only wish was that Rachel was there.

I had a few minutes to myself, so after finding a quiet refuge in the pantry in my kitchen, I pulled out my phone.

I opened a video call and dialed my wife.

She answered after the third ring.

When she came on the line, her face was bright and full of life. It has only been a few days since she left to work out east but the distance seemed to be working well for her. I on the other hand was having a hard time keeping my composure.

"Hey baby!" The sound of her sweet voice washed over me and caused muscles that I didn't realize were tense to relax.

I smiled into the phone. "Hey honey."

"What's up?"

I took a deep breath while staring into the phone. It was pathetic just how much I missed her and how twisted I got from just seeing her on the small screen of a smartphone. "Nothing, I just missed you."

She tilted her head to the side and smiled so prettily that I fell in love with her all over again. Her long brown locks obscured a part of her face. "Aww! That's so sweet. I miss you too baby."

There was a loud noise in the background.

Rachel looked puzzled, "What was that?"

I opened the door and saw a few of my houseguests carrying the empty keg through the kitchen and presumably out the front door.

I came back to the call. "Just a few party guests making noise."

"Party guests?" She looked confused and then her eyes grew wide. "Holy cow! The pool party! I totally forgot that I suggested that to my sister."

I nodded, "Yeah. Well trust me, _she_ didn't forget."

Rachel laughed, "Did she make a big deal out of it?"

I sighed, "You have _no_ idea. Plus some of the neighbors came over and now we're basically having a block party."

She laughed and rolled over onto her back. "It's like a virus! Oh man! I wish I was there."

"Want to see the destruction you wrought?"

She sat up excitedly, "Yes! Show me."

I left the pantry and headed to the screen door. Turning the camera around, I showed her the view of our backyard. There was an impromptu pool volleyball game taking place. Several people were relaxing in the hot tub. All the tables were full of either food, people eating food or people playing cards. There was some people in the middle of the yard playing cornhole. Almost everyone had a drink in their hands. Music blared and people were mingling.

I turned the camera around and headed back into the pantry. "And that's just our backyard. I have no idea what's going on elsewhere."

She sighed, "Aww. It looks like you're having a good time."

"It would be better if you were here."

She looked sad. "I know, babe. I know."

A couple of weeks ago, I found out that my wife of 7-years, Rachel, had been carrying on an affair with one of her co-workers, Alex. When I found out about the affair I was understandably distraught. Rachel's little sister, Toni, was the one that broke the news to me. Truthfully, I didn't know what to do. I devoted my life to my marriage and to know that she felt the need to go outside of our marriage was a knockout blow.

I still don't know how I didn't see it. Our relationship had turned sour years ago and that forced me to feel the need to step it up in order to improve things. However, nothing that I did worked. She started an emotional affair 2-years ago, which evolved into a sexual affair 4-months ago.

It's been just over two weeks since I found out and as you would expect, my life has been irrevocably altered. Just two weeks and I went from being a naïve but devoted husband, to being a broken shell of a man, to delving into bedroom antics with another woman, to getting into a fight, to eventually rekindling the emotions in the marriage, to having my wife suggest a trial separation. It has been a rollercoaster and honestly it feels like it has been way more than just two weeks. It feels like I've lived an entire life in that short timeframe.

After learning about the affair, I was determined to murder the old me. He was responsible for my pain. He followed this code that required him to be a gentleman above all else. That blind following of his Gentleman's Code created a rift in my marriage, thus causing Rachel to search for a the missing pieces outside of our marriage. So I had to kill him.

The perfect coup de grâce presented itself in Toni. After finding out about Rachel, I wasn't in a good place. After burning my bed sheets, I fell asleep. I was woken by Toni. She offered herself to me. I took advantage of the situation with both eyes open, effectively killing old-Jacob. Unfortunately, old-Jacob was buried in a remarkably shallow grave, because after finding out that she was busted, Rachel came running back to me. I wanted to tell her to piss off! Oh how I wanted to tell her that. The only problem was that damn code was still ingrained in my psyche. It was true that Rachel committed adultery. It was true that she betrayed our marriage—betrayed me. It was true that I both hated and resented her. Unfortunately, it was also true that I slept with her sister. Because of me crossing that sacred boundary, I felt that I had no choice but to give her one final chance.

I didn't think there was anything that we could do to get back to where we were. Nevertheless, I suggested counseling and she took it as her lifeline and ran with it. We started seeing a marriage counselor, Dr. Amara Jeffries. At some point old-Jacob climbed out of his grave like a zombie and preceded in trying to take over new-Jacob's heart. I tried to fight it but the love that I felt for Rachel wouldn't be extinguished. I guess that's what's led us here. I blindly loved her and thought her above cheating. I blindly trusted her because of that love. I placed my image of her on a pedestal and ignored the real Rachel. She was a person who was growing and changing in a marriage where I wanted things to remain frozen in time but that's not the way life is. People grow and change. People grow apart especially when they don't grow together. That's what happened to Rachel and I. But there was still love there, despite her infidelity and my revenge infidelity. We were committed to making it work but when I happened upon Rachel and Alex in a hotel together, that commitment took a backseat.

What I thought was a secret tryst was in actuality, Rachel's attempt at ending things with finality. Of course, I didn't know that, so upon seeing them, I followed them to their room. I burst open the door and found Rachel pointing a loaded 9mm at his chest. As shocked as I was upon seeing this it was all erased once I realized that he had hit her. The two of us brawled and I might've killed him if Rachel hadn't stopped me.

Unfortunately, that confrontation proved to be too much for Rachel. She felt at fault for me being in that situation and the realization damaged her. After talking to Amara, she decided that a trial separation would be the only way for her to regain a sense of self and work through her trauma.

She's been gone, taking a promotion out East, for the last few days. She seems to be doing fine, as near as I can tell.

If you ask me if I love my wife, the answer is yes. If you ask me if I miss my wife, the answer is yes. If you ask me if I'm still hurt and mad at my wife, the answer is yes. If you ask me if I trust my wife, the answer is a resounding no. She lied to me for years and only told me the truth and ended things after I found out. That soft-hearted old-Jacob is responsible for me even staying in the marriage. Perhaps it would be better if I had just ended things then. I'm not a child. I know that love alone is not enough to keep a relationship, especially a marriage, in place. But I also know that you can't just cut and run when things get bad. It would be easy to say, lets end things. But we're not kids. We're not dating. We're married. We made vows and despite how fucked up what we did was, we have to try to make things work. If they don't work then at least we'll have the knowledge that we did everything that we could. It's a small solace.

Turning back to the phone, Rachel was watching me with softness in her eyes. After nearly losing me, it occurred to her just how much I meant to her. Humph! Imagine that. I honestly believed that she didn't want to lose me and I didn't want to lose her but now that we're in this trial separation it was hard not to feel like that was ultimately where things were headed.

"Do you want to see my room?" Her employer set her up in a long stay hotel while she settled into the new position.

I tried to sound enthusiastic. "Sure!"

She took me around the room. It was a bit more comfortable looking than your standard hotel suite. Nevertheless, it was still a hotel. There was only so much that she could do to make things feel like home. As she walked around, I noticed that she had taken several pictures from our house (like our wedding photos and other knick-knacks) and had positioned them around the room.

"That's it!"

"Well it doesn't look too bad. How's the job going?"

"Umm, not bad. I think I'll have to cut a few people loose though. I've only been at it for a few days and I already see reasons why this branch has suffered. There's this clique of employees who refuse to get with the times. They think they're above the law and the previous managers have let them run the show and practically get away with murder."

"Yeah? Do you want my advice?"

She smiled, "Yeah. Is it to fire them?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"I figured you'd say that. I think this is likely the best time."

"Why? To make a statement?"

"No, not so much to make a statement. But I haven't formed any real bonds with anyone. Before I do, it would be best to set boundaries that way that know that I'm not there to play. I'm there to succeed." There was fire in her eyes and I knew in that moment that she was right where she should be. I had been pushing her to leave her job even before I knew about the affair. She was always against the idea. She liked her job and now that she has been given a chance to showcase her leadership talents, she wants to do her best.

It was nice. A few weeks ago, we didn't talk about our work at all. Now, I knew what was going on with her and she knew what was going on with me...except for the whole Toni thing. I'm going to take that shit to my grave!

"Where's Toni? I didn't see her out there."

"Oh I'm sure she's out there somewhere. She dragged my assistant, Sarah, over here early to set up. Since then she's been the life of the party."

"Haha! Sounds like her! Well don't let her get you into any trouble, kay?"

I nodded. "Of course, babe."

"Well, you'd better go. Thanks for calling me."

"I guess you're right and you're welcome."

"Umm, Jake?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"I love you." She looked nervous.

I smiled into the phone. "I love you, too."

She let out a large sigh of relief and then blew a kiss into the phone. A moment later, my phone went dark. I walked out of the pantry and found Sarah in the kitchen. She was pouring a bag of chips into a large bowl.

She saw me and nearly jumped out of her clothes. "Oh! Jake! I didn't know you were in there."

"Sorry. I was on the phone."

She turned back to the bowl, her pretty face flushed. "That makes sense. It's probably too loud anywhere else."

I leaned against the closed door and watched her. "Yeah." Sarah was an odd one. For one, she puts on this sort of mousy air at work. She dresses in clothes that are slightly too large for her. She never wears make-up. At work she just sort of fades into the background. Upon first glance, she seems like the type of person that colors inside the lines and never strays. Of course, she has her moments.

On one of the last days that Rachel was here, she came to my office in the middle of the day and the two of us got it on in my office. During our escapade, I noticed that my previously locked door had been unlocked and opened, and there was someone watching quietly through the door. I had my suspicions but they weren't confirmed until earlier this morning when that very same eye was found watching me shower. The only people in my house at that time was Toni, Sarah and I. I knew it wasn't Toni. Hell, if it _were_ Toni, she would've probably kicked open the door and took incriminating photos or something equally as embarrassing. No it was Sarah.

One other thing that became apparent was that underneath those multiple layers, lanky hair, and mousy exterior was a drop-dead babe. When she showed up at my home with Toni, not only was she dressed in practically nothing, her small body was out of this world. She was toned from the bottom to the top, her breasts were deceptively larger than even I would've imagined, almost as large as Toni's. Her straight hair was curled and she was even wearing make-up. Seeing her like that was enough to make me understand how she was engaged. If this was the sight that her fiancé got to see then it was easy to see how he fell for her. She was deceptively, distractingly and dangerously sexy.

Cliché or not, my assistant was a hottie.

That was this morning. Now she stood in my kitchen, her face still made-up and her hair still curled, but she was wearing a super baggy bathing suit cover that did nothing but hide the body underneath. I mean the thing went down below her knees. It was by far the least sexy thing that a person could wear. I mean she would've been better off wearing a trash bag. No joke!

I was just getting ready to ask her about it when one of the new faces walked in from the backyard.

"There you are, Sarah. What are you doing?"

Sarah looked up at him, a thin smile on her lips. "Hey Chris. Nothing. We were running low on chips so I came in here for a quick refill."

With a drink in hand, Chris walked over to her, put his arm around her shoulder, and kissed her cheek. "That's my girl. Working when you're supposed to be mingling." He laughed bawdily. Despite being in front of her boss, he slapped her behind and she jumped as a result. This only made him laugh even harder.

For a sweet girl like Sarah to be engaged to a raging jackass like him was a mystery that could only be explained by several sacrifices to some gods and maybe a deal with the Devil. She deserved better.

He turned to me as Sarah did the same. Her eyes were apologetic and his were watery from too much liquor.

He smiled at me as he had his arm around Sarah's waist. "Thanks for inviting me to this get together. Man! You people really know how to throw a party!"

Sarah sucked in air so sharply that it would cut you if you got too close.

I cut my eyes at him, " _You people_?" I didn't know whether to knock him senseless or drown him in my sink.

He was still smiling, oblivious. "Yeah. You know...Bl...!"

Sarah smashed the bowl of chips into his chest and turned to look up at him. Her face red and a false smile on her face. He fumbled with the bowl but still caught it in his chest. "Why don't you take this out to the table for me, babe."

He smiled down at her, (again...oblivious to the danger he faced) and nodded. "No problem, babe." He slapped her ass once more and then smiled at me. "Thanks again Jake!" Then he was gone.

I watched him go and then leaned back against my pantry door. Sarah did the same but leaned against the counter.

Her face was so red that she looked like a tomato. "I'm _so_ sorry about him!"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "You shouldn't have to apologize for him."

Placing the palms of her hands over her eyes, I saw her press down like she was trying to force an image out of her mind. "But I always end up needing to. I hope he didn't offend you too much."

"He's offensive to be sure. Unfortunately, that kind of crap is the type of thing you deal with when you're Black in America. I hope you don't mind me saying but your fiancé is kind of a dick."

She shook her head as if I wasn't telling her anything she didn't already know. "Yeah, I'm aware."

"What's his deal?"

"Oh, he means well. That's to say he isn't hateful in his racisms. We're just from a small town in Kentucky and people formed these idea about different groups. He seems to think all those stereotypes are accurate. He's stuck in his ways. I thought moving up here, living close to one of the suburbs and working in Chicago would help him see that the world is not what we were taught growing up but he just sees the crime and the drugs and thinks that that's all there is in these communities."

I moved next to her. "You seem to have turned out okay."

She still wouldn't look at me. Not that I blamed her. "It was hard at first. Talk about a culture shock. I mean we had one stoplight, 6 police officers, and we all went to the same school from kindergarten to high school. Now we're so close to Chicago and there's all this life and all these people. It's awesome."

I put my arm on her shoulder and pulled her into me. "Well I'm glad things worked out for you."

She sighed and relaxed into me. "Thanks, Jake."

"So why did you invite him?"

She growled, "I wish I hadn't! But I didn't have a choice. He knew I was going to a party. Even if it was a work thing he didn't want me to be there alone. Which translates into him being a controlling, oppressive, closed minded jackass."

"You could've just told him no. Right?"

"See that's just it. I couldn't. I never can. I've tried but he never listens. I figured it was better to just not fight about it."

"Well that doesn't seem healthy."

She didn't disagree. "I know but we've dated since junior high. He's the only guy I've been with. I just feel like he's my responsibility now. I can't abandon him."

I've heard that type of language before. That was the same stuff that old-Jacob used to spew when Rachel would do something bitchy or downright mean. He couldn't leave her because she was his responsibility. Humph! I guess it's not just guys that have a code, huh?

There was nothing I could say...rather, there was nothing that I _did_ say. This was her path and if this was how she decided to travel I couldn't interfere without a written invitation. Nevertheless, to show her that I understood her troubles, I squeezed her shoulder and rubbed her arm. She sighed and buried the back of her head in my chest.

We sat there for a few seconds and then separated. It was a good thing that we did because Toni burst through the door seconds later.

"There you two are!" She bounced towards us. Toni wasn't hiding anything. It wasn't her style. Her breasts bounced in her matching black and gold bikini. Her brown curls were wet and clung to her shoulders. Her moist lips were kissable and her smile was wicked. "What are you two up to?" She forced herself in between Sarah and I, placing her arm around Sarah's waist and her hand on my behind.

Sarah was the first to respond. "I came to get chips but I sent Chris out with them."

"Ah, Chris." Toni rolled her eyes and spoke his name with such vehemence that left little doubt of her disdain for the young man. She looked at me, "And you?"

I answered, "I came in to call Rachel."

"Ah! How is my dear big sis?"

"She's doing okay."

Sarah glanced at me. "I don't see your wife. Is she working or something?"

Shaking my head, my voice was pained. "No. We've had some issues so we're separated for the time being."

"Oh!" Her face was oddly expressive but she settled for only saying that.

I felt Toni's hand squeeze down as she nodded. She even twisted her face into a sad expression, which I thought was a nice touch. "Yeah, unfortunately, they're going through a bit of a rough patch. That's why you and I need to do all that we can to help this great guy turn his frown upside down!"

Sarah blushed and reached for an unopened bottle of pop. I looked down at Toni. She thought she was so clever. "I'm not frowning."

"Oh shut it! Now lets get back out there and party. It's turned into quite the little gathering."

Before she left, Sarah looked up at me, her expression earnest. "I'm sorry about your wife. She seemed like a nice lady."

"Thanks, Sarah."

Sarah left before Toni and I. As she headed through the sliding door, Toni grabbed my arm and held me in place. Once the door closed, she turned to me.

"Did you see that?" Although she was whispering, there was such excitement in her voice that it was hard not to get motivated by it.

"Did I see what?"

She rolled her brown eyes. "Seriously? You didn't see how excited she was when she found out you were separated? I'm telling you that girl wants you _bad_."

Toni still didn't know that I was already aware of Sarah's attraction. I didn't feel it necessary to inform her so I just let her continue thinking what she wanted to. "If you say so."

"I do! Anyway, can you believe it? It's like what the hell happened? She went from Top Model, this morning to Grandma Trash-bag for the party. What the fuck?"

On this I had to agree. "Yeah, I know. It's weird."

"If you ask me, I think it's because that fiancé of hers doesn't want her showing off."

"Hmm, maybe. I wonder though."

She looked confused, "What do you mean?"

I shrugged, "It's hard to explain but I feel like maybe she's not doing it so much to please him but to keep him at a distance. If you notice she doesn't seem too taken by her own fiancé."

"Hmm", she said as she crossed her arms. "I'll have to pay more attention. Maybe you're right."

"Who knows. So why did you _really_ come in here?"

Now she looked at me conspiratorially, "I wanted to make sure that you weren't making a move on Sarah without me."

I laughed, "Toni, really? I'm not going to make a move on her especially now. She's engaged. I'm separated. I'm her boss. There's just too much crap going on. I don't need to add to it."

"Yeah, I guess I didn't consider all of that. Oh well. Just because Sarah is off limits doesn't mean that I'm not going to get dicked-down right?" Her large brown eyes were studying me but the question was so absurd that I could do nothing but laugh.

"Holy hell, Toni! Some times you're too much."

Smiling, her small hand cupped my package. "I wasn't kidding earlier. I've wanted this for too long. Now that you gave me a taste don't think that you're going to be able to run away from me now. I've wanted you since you first started dating my sister. She left and you have a hall pass. I'm _definitely_ going to take advantage." She stood on her toes and quickly kissed my lips and then turned and headed towards the backyard where the rest of the guests were congregating.

I watched her leave and wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into.

"Are you sure I shouldn't stay and help clean up?" Sarah's eyes were kind and full of angst. The reason was obvious.

Looking over her shoulder, I saw Chris sitting on the stool by my front door. Although saying that he was "sitting" was giving it too much credit. The only thing keeping him propped up was the wall, Sarah's bag and few stacked boxes. His pale face was red from way too much alcohol. He was beyond hammered.

I looked down at her and put my hand on her shoulder. "No, it's fine. Most of the guests are gone anyway. Go ahead and take him home. It looks like you're going to have your work cut out for you."

She nodded. "Thanks, Jake." She stood on her toes and gave me a quick hug, making sure that none of her private areas touched mine. "Sorry again."

"No, it's fine. I told you that you shouldn't have to apologize for him."

"Yeah, but we all have our crosses to bear. He's mine."

Right on cue he slurred, "Such a nice party. You have a nice home. No drugs or nuthin, huh?"

She turned to him, "Shush, Chris!" She turned back to me, "I'd better go before he makes an even bigger ass of himself." I got one final hug. "Thanks again."

I watched as she headed towards him. He struggled to stand. Once he did, he perform a patronizing military salute at me and then turned right into my closed door. As he backpedaled, I tried hard not to laugh and Sarah caught him and held him in place as she opened the door and guided him out. I stood at the open door and watched her guide him down the walkway.

I called after her, "Sarah?"

They stopped as she turned back to look at me. "Yes, Jake?"

"Are you still _hungry_?" My usage of her earlier quip when she was obviously hinting at her attraction to me wasn't lost on her. Even in the gloom I could see her face darken.

Not being privy to the inside joke, Chris slurred, "How can you be hungry? There was so much food."

She pushed him even faster towards the passenger seat of her car. "N-nothing. It's nothing. I ate. I'm not hungry. L-l-lets go, babe. Thanks again, Jake. See you on Monday!"

Once she got him situated in the car she climbed in the driver's seat and piloted the car down my street and back to their apartment.

Closing the door, I chuckled. But that levity was short lived once I took a look at the mess that was left behind. I blew out a large sigh. "Well, I'd better get to work."

My house was in disarray. The last of the partygoers walked out of the front door, which just let me to clean up the mess. As I pulled out the trash bags, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand. Someone was watching me.

As you would expect, I turned and saw Toni's mirthful brown eyes. "Why not leave that till later?"

I sat the bag on the counter. "How much later are you thinking? It's already past 11 and I really don't want to wake up to this mess."

"Really?" Her eyes were dancing. I didn't know if it was the effect of too much alcohol or if there was something else. She did a leggy catwalk towards me, as she did, she reached behind her back and untied her top. Her breasts were freed and with every other step I could just make out the edges of her small nipples as the material swayed. Once she was before me, she placed her hand on my chest, "Even if I do this?" She slowly sank to her knees.

My heart was thumping in my chest as I watched her eyes grow in excitement. Her fingers deftly untied my shorts and pulled them to the ground. My engorged member was free. She squeezed the base and worked the tip with her tongue. She watched me with so much lust in her eyes that I thought she would burn a hole through my soul.

Her brown curls fell down the length of her back while her head was tilted so that I could see it when my cockhead was sucked inside of her mouth.

I moaned in pleasure, "Oh God!"

I felt her smile as her head started bobbing. Soon her hair was moving in a flowing wave, back and forth. Slurping noises filled the air as she slipped her hand into her bikini bottoms. Soon she was moaning just as fervently as I was.

With my cock in her mouth, she muffled, "Pleaf, biv if oo ee!" I tilted my head at her questioningly. I couldn't make out what she said. She removed my cock and a long trail of saliva followed. Once she caught her breath, she pleaded, "Please, give it to me!"

Ah! That made more sense. I nodded in agreement and she smiled. Tossing her top to the ground, she stood. I was still wearing my t-shirt but no bottoms. She was wearing her bikini bottoms with no top. She grabbed my hand and lead me towards the stairs. On our way I noticed that Sarah had left her bag when she was rushing her drunk partner out of my door. I figured I'd just take it into the office on Monday.

Toni impatiently pulled at my hand as she launched herself up the stairs. I followed close behind...but not too close. I loved watching her bubble butt bounce as she ran.

Once we were upstairs and in my bedroom, she pushed me down. I sat up long enough to remove my shirt and she stood long enough to remove her bottoms.

Now she was standing before me, naked and panting. Her brown curls fell in front of her face and her brown eyes were glowing. She sneered as she tensed her body to pounce. If I'm being honest, in that moment she looked somewhat mad. Perhaps she was. Hell, perhaps we both were. Related by marriage and we were both desperate to sleep with each other. I guess we were a little mad.

"I've been waiting for this." Her voice was heavy with desire. It seemed to alter the very air in the room.

"Then come and get it." My swollen cock was facing the sky. She took one final look at it and then licked her lips. She launched herself on top of me and I caught her in my chest and fell back. Her lips were on mine as her stomach pressed my cock against my own.

We rolled on the bed, our lips on each other's body.

Soon I had her on her back with her arms pinned over her head. Her large breasts and small nipples were staring me in the eye. I glanced at her and the heat almost melted me. She nodded, knowingly. I greedily brought her breasts into my mouth. She tasted of sun, sweat and strawberries. It was a heady mix.

"God yes!" She arched her back off the bed. I released her hands and she wrapped them around my head, holding me tighter.

Her breasts were delicious but I knew that the reason she came back for seconds was partially because she was disappointed in her other partners. I didn't want to disappoint.

I released her breasts and she sighed in wanting but when I moved down her body she moaned in anticipation. "Yes, eat my box, baby."

Her pussy was so wet that it was difficult to tell if my mouth was overflowing with saliva or her thick juice. Either way, I was in Nirvana. With my face pressed tightly against her womanhood, I pressed the flat of my tongue against her entrance. I teased her by just barely pressing inside of her. I moved my tongue against her over and over, increasing the pressure until I found just the right amount. Reaching around her thigh, I grabbed a handful of her pubic hair and pulled gently.

She pressed her head back and yelped, "Fuck! That's so good!"

Soon she was grew impatient with my teasing and wrapped her legs around my neck. Holding my head in her hands, she started humping my face. Sliding her whole pussy up and down my face until I was covered in her excitement. I watched her as she watched me. I saw an animal being released from its cage. She was here to fuck me and get fucked, that much was clear. However, this time she didn't have the excuse of "trying to heal my wounds". No, this time she was here for her and that by itself was enough reason for her to drop all of her guard and pretenses and just enjoy it.

The animal in her was beautiful. She took up all of my senses. My vision. My touch. My taste. My hearing. My sense of smell—everything was absorbed in Toni. Realizing that I was right were I wanted to be and didn't have to put on airs was freeing. I wasn't worried about anything or anyone except for the beautiful woman dancing on my tongue.

She must've noticed the change in me because she smiled salaciously. Then she did something that I didn't see coming. She squeezed my neck and turned her hips. Soon, I was on my back and she was seated atop me.

Her bush was in my face and from this vantage, I could see the bottoms of her full breasts and her face in the glow of the streetlights. She looked fierce and extremely sexy.

Her voice was filled with smoke and desire. "The last time we were together, you completely wrecked me. You were in control and I loved it. But tonight, I'm going to fuck you. I'm going to be in control and you're going to love me for it. I've had years to build a book of sexy scenarios that I've desperately wanted to do with you and this is one."

Before I could ask more she pressed her pussy on my face. With one hand on my head and the other pulling at her nipple, she rode my face like I was little more than a man-sized toy. She was rough. She was so _so_ rough and I loved it! She tilted her head back and moaned. "Fuck! Eat me, Jacob! Eat my fucking pussy, bitch!"

I did as she ordered. I let her use me and she was right, I loved her for it.

My face was covered in her juice and even my lips were starting to hurt but I didn't want her to stop. I could feel my cock throbbing and I don't think I've ever been harder in my life.

"I'm cumming! Oh God! I'm cumming on your fucking face!" She moved faster and faster, sitting down harder on me. Soon, I felt her thighs shake. "Oooooooooooo!" Her thighs, stomach, hand and even her head was shaking as tremors ran up her body.

Once her orgasm died down, she fell forward as I slid from underneath her. Grabbing my shirt off the bed, I wiped my face clean. I could still taste her on my lips and she tasted fine as fuck!

She was breathing heavily as she lay on the bed, her ass in the air. She slid on her stomach and I was right behind her.

I stretched out on top of her, my body pressing hers to the bed. I bit her shoulder and whispered, "My turn."

I slid my legs under hers and she hooked her feet behind my calves. My cock didn't have any trouble finding her wet entrance. She was still tired from her orgasm but she didn't ask me to stop. As a matter of fact, she said, "Give it to me, baby. Tear that pussy up."

I bit her again and then I slowly pressed inside of her. "Fuck!" It felt incredible.

Her pussy squeezed me just right as I buried myself inside of her. "You like that pussy, baby? That's your pussy. Now fuck me with that big dick!"

I wanted to start off slow and work my way up to fucking her but she had other thoughts in mind. I remembered what she said earlier about being dicked down and smiled. If she wanted me to give it to her hard then that was what she was going to get.

Reaching my left arm around her chest, I grabbed her right breast and squeezed. I also wrapped my right arm around her neck and leaned over her. It was like I was hugging her. When my arms squeezed, I felt her pussy get even slicker.

"That's it, baby. Take it! Take every inch of me!" She was pressing her butt against me, her body seducing me just as effectively as her words were.

Ask and you shall receive. I plunged inside of her depths until her body stopped me. There was still more of me left so I tensed and squeezed my hips into her. She screamed, "Fuck! More! Give me more!" So I did.

I was fucking her hard. I was fucking her roughly. I was marking her with my cock, making her depths open up and take all of me so that anyone that she is with in the future will know that I was there first.

Soon, I was on my knees and as a result, so was she. She tried to push herself up with her arms but I held her down with my arm. Slapping her ass, I rammed into her again and again. I haven't fucked anyone this hard in a long time and it felt incredible.

I grabbed a handful of her hair and wrapped it around my hand. Her head tilted back as I used her hair as leverage to fuck her even more beastly.

"Yes! Yes!" Our bodies were slapping against each other as she cried out. "This is what I want. I want that dick in me. Give it to me! Give it to me!"

"Take this dick then! Take it all!"

I moved faster. I sweated more. She yelled and I roared. We were talking dirty and our bodies were doing even more dirty things. I was at my limit. I knew I was going to explode and I wanted nothing more than to do it in her abused cunt.

"Fuck me, baby! I'm so close. I'm so fucking clooooosssssseeeee!" Soon her head started shaking. She looked back at me from over her shoulder. Her eyes were teary. Her face was red. Her lips were covered in saliva as she drooled. In all of this, you would think that she would've screamed of her incoming climax but she didn't. Her eyes met mine and she whispered, "I'm cumming. Oh God, Jacob. I'm cumming for you." Given the intensity of the moment, her quiet whisper was sexier than anything else that was going on.

It pushed me over the edge. As I blew inside of her, her orgasm hit. She watched me for the first second or two and then her eyelids fluttered shut as she grunted. Her legs started kicking uncontrollably like she was running away. I grabbed her hips and kept her from escaping. She continued to kick and her hands twisted my sheets. Her pussy squeezed and worked around my cock.

We were both spent as we fell on the bed. I was panting. She was panting.

I looked over at her and her eyes were closed and she had this satisfied smile on her lips. Soon she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Feel good?" I asked.

She nodded, "You have _no_ idea!"

"Good." That was all I could make out between breaths. Soon I started playing with her hair as she closed her eyes and sighed pleasurably. Minutes ticked by and we didn't speak. I continued playing with her hair, she continued to smile in satisfaction. I broke the silence with my next question, "So, is there anything else in that book of yours?"

Her eyes flashed open. "You really want to know?"

I smiled, "I asked didn't I?"

She stood slowly. Once she was fully erect, she wobbled slightly and caught herself on the bed. "Whoops!" She reached towards me, "Follow me."

I took her hand and let her help me stand. She led me into the bathroom and turned on the shower. As she stepped into the steamy shower, I saw some of my cum running down her thigh. The sight excited me. I followed right behind her.

"Lets start here." She turned and spread her cheek. "Ready for round two?" She winked at me and I smiled.

That night I had some of the best sex of my life.

The next morning I woke to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I looked at the clock and it read 8:30.

"Mmmm."

I looked over and saw Toni sleeping soundly. At least I thought it was Toni. Her hair was wild and covered her face, her bare breasts on display. I smiled and climbed out of the bed. I slid on a pair of pajama bottoms and my slippers and then headed downstairs.

There was another knocking sound. "Coming!" I called from the stairs.

I pulled open the door and found a pretty blond in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She handed me a cup of coffee while smiling prettily. "Good morning, boss." Her eyes widened as she took in my topless frame. I'd like to say that I saw a little bit of lust in her eyes but if I'm being honest it just seemed like she was a bit surprised.

I took the proffered coffee and motioned for her to enter. "Good morning, Sarah. What brings you over this morning?"

She was looking around as if she was searching for something, or someone. Her eyes fell on the bench next to the door. She scooped up her purse. "Ah! There is it. I was worried that I had lost it."

I kicked myself. Of course! She forgot her purse last night. I had completely forgot. Oh well. Now that she was here, I might as well invite her for breakfast. "Have you eaten already?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I ate before church."

I stopped. "It's 8:30 in the morning. You've already gone to church?"

She nodded, "Yeah. 6AM service."

"Wow! That's some dedication."

She followed me into the kitchen. "You're not religious?"

I pulled out a carton of eggs. "I used to be when I was a kid but not anymore."

"Did something happen that made you take back your faith?"

"No. I don't think my faith has been taken back it's just hard to follow all of the rituals when I know the truth behind them."

"Ah." If she thought more about it then she didn't say. She looked around the room. The kitchen was by far the messiest of the rooms. She sat her purse on the counter and pushed her sleeves back until they were rolled onto her shoulders. "Wow, we really did some damage."

I was stirring the eggs and glanced around. "Yeah. But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves."

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Her hazel eyes were studying me.

I thought to the fun I had at the party and after and nodded with a secret smile on my face. "Yeah, I did. You?"

She nodded, "It could've gone better."

"How so?"

"I just had different expectations for the night that's all. I didn't plan on spending it nursing Chris back to health."

I chuckled, "How did he fair at 6AM church?"

She groaned, "It was horrible." I laughed and she smirked. Then she pushed herself back and headed towards the pantry and came back with some garbage bags. She started picking up without needing to or me asking her to.

I watched her move and was struck by how good of a person that she is. Sure she did spy on me a couple of times but I think underneath that curiosity is a very decent human being.

I turned to turn the coffee pot on and almost tripped on a piece of cloth. I looked down and found my foot caught in the shorts I discarded last night. I looked up and also saw Toni's top laying a few feet away.

Shit! I had totally forgot about that. Of course, Sarah took that moment to come see what had almost made me fall face first.

"Shorts? These are yours right, Jake?" She knelt down and picked them up and folded then sat them on the island. She said jokingly, "Getting undressed in the kitchen, huh? You must've had a lot of fun."

She didn't say anything regarding Toni's top. Once she moved to the other side of the island, I quickly stepped forward and scooped them off the ground and stuffed them in my pocket.

I turned the pot on and put some bread in the toaster. As the pot filled with coffee, Sarah came over and looked over my shoulder. I felt her surprisingly large bust against my back. "Did I do something bad with the coffee? Do you not like it?"

I sipped the coffee that she brought me. "No, it's great. Thanks. It's just a habit I guess."

"Oh! Okay."

The smell of dark roasted coffee filled the kitchen. Sarah went back to cleaning, as I was putting the eggs in the pan.

Moments later Toni appeared around the corner. Her hair was a frizzy mess and her eyes were tired but she smiled like she had slept like an angel.

"Mmmm! That smells good. Did you make me some coffee, bro?"

My heart was beating a mile a minute. Luckily, she had put on one of my t-shirts before she came downstairs barefoot. If she had come as naked as she slept there would be no explaining that to my assistant.

When she was fully in the kitchen, she opened her eyes and saw Sarah standing there. Toni's eyes grew wide and she gasped, "Sarah! W-when did you get here?" Pulling the hem of the shirt down further, Toni looked at me questioningly then back at Sarah.

"Just a little bit ago. I left something here and then I saw the mess so I thought I would help pick up."

"O-oh, okay." She shuffled to the island and carefully sat on a chair, making certain the shirt was firmly under her bottom so that Sarah wouldn't know that she wasn't wearing panties.

Sarah continued to clean. I continued to cook. Toni continued to look mortified. Soon the coffee was done. I poured Sarah and Toni a cup and then put a plate full of eggs and toast in front of Toni.

"Thanks, Jacob."

"Mmhmm."

I put some more eggs in the pan for me and more bread in the toaster.

There was an obvious awkwardness in the kitchen that came from two people almost being caught in an illicit act by someone that they had no business being caught by.

Sarah stopped to take a drink of her coffee. Looking at Toni, she asked, "So you stayed the night?"

Toni barely made eye contact. "Y-yeah. He has a guest room. I stay there some times when I'm over."

"Ah." Sarah sipped her coffee.

"Yeah." Toni buttered her toast.

A part of me was amused. At work, it's normally Toni teasing Sarah. It was fun to see the tables being turned. Although, I didn't think Sarah was really teasing her. She was asking innocent questions and there was no accusation in her tone whatsoever. She truly didn't find it strange at all.

Sarah sat down her coffee cup and smiled mischievously. "Guess what, Toni? I know a super juicy secret about Jake."

Toni looked about ready to run away screaming but she bit her lip and stayed anchored in place. Even I was nervous as Sarah continued smiling. Finally, Toni asked, "What is it?"

Sarah leaned over and put her hand on my shorts, which she had folded. "Apparently, he sleeps completely in the buff!" She giggled.

Toni's face turned red, which only caused Sarah to laugh louder. I turned to her, "Sarah!" Even I was embarrassed.

Sarah waved her hand in the air. "Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I just thought it was funny." She looked back at Toni. "See. I found these on the kitchen floor. You must've been sleeping when he stripped down."

Toni sighed, "Y-yeah. I went to bed pretty early last night."

I pulled the eggs off the burner, turned and grabbed my shorts off the island. "Okay, enough torturing your boss!" I ran away with the pants in my hand, Toni's top in my pocket and my face burning.

I heard Sarah giggle. "Wow. I don't think I've ever seen him embarrassed. It's so cute!"

I turned the corner and ran up the stairs leaving the two of them to interact without me for a minute or two.

On Monday things at the office were back to normal. Other than a overhearing people talking about the great time they had at my place over the weekend, most of the day was about work and our clientele. Despite nearly catching us in the act, Sarah remained blissfully unaware of Toni and my carnal activities. For her part, Toni was back to her confident self. She glowed. She floated. She was the mistress of the universe. Sarah was back to her mousy behaviors but I didn't mind. She was a smart, quick and capable assistant. Honestly, I'm lucky to have her. Given her abilities, I think she'd be better suited as a higher-level executive assistant instead of the assistant to a junior executive. But I was grateful nonetheless.

When I saw her that morning, she smiled and handed me a coffee. Again, I took the proffered coffee. Perhaps this would be our new thing—her giving me a coffee in the morning. If so, it was a welcome change.

"Good morning, Jake."

"Good morning, Sarah." She was wearing an ill-cut off-white suit that did nothing for her figure or skin tone. "Thanks for helping out yesterday. If you hadn't shown up to help, I think Toni and I would still be cleaning up the mess."

"You're very welcome, Jake." There was an odd tension in the air that I couldn't place. She looked at me in a way that made me feel ill at ease. Normally, her glances were fleeting. Now, she held my stare and I saw if not lust, something equally dangerous.

I decided to take my coffee and head off into my office. I had a lot to do today and still had to get done early enough to meet Amara at 6 tonight. If I wanted to be done in time, I had to get the ball rolling.

It was a little past 11 when Sarah popped her head in. "Sir?"

I was in the middle of doing a preliminary budget and looked up, "Yeah?"

"Your wife is on line 1."

"Oh!" I looked at the phone and noticed the blinking light. "Thanks, Sarah."

She nodded and left.

Once the door closed, I picked up the line. "Good morning, this is Jacob Aspen."

Her voice was full of mirth, "Hello Mr. Jacob Aspen, this is Mrs. Jacob Aspen."

I laughed, "Hey, babe. Happy Monday. How's it going?"

"Not too bad, I was just heading out to lunch and thought I would call to see how the party ended up."

I looked at the clock. "Lunch? It's only 11."

She chuckled, "Out here on the east coast we're looking at noon not 11."

"Ah. I forgot about the time difference. Sorry."

"No need to be sorry babe. So how was the party?"

"It was great. People couldn't stop talking about it. I think I won some pretty good brownie points with the employees here. The only problem was the mess."

"Did you have to clean it all up by yourself?"

"No. Sarah and Toni helped."

"Sarah?" I could see her face right now as she tried to figure out who I was referring to.

"Yeah, you know. My assistant. She came over yesterday and helped straighten up."

"O-oh. I see. I remember her. D-did, umm...did she come alone or was she like with Toni or something?"

I leaned back in my chair. I didn't know why we were talking about my assistant. "No. She came over by herself. Toni drank too much so she slept in the guest bedroom."

"I see. Did she leave before knowing that Toni was staying the night?"

"Umm, yeah. I guess. Her fiancé was there and was pretty hammered so she took him home before things finally wound down."

"She's engaged?"

"Yeah. Hence the fiancé"

"Oh! Well, I guess that's better."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if she just came over without knowing that Toni was there I would think that maybe she didn't come to help clean but for something else."

"Really? No, I don't think so. She's a good girl. She was just being nice."

"A good girl, huh? All I'm saying is that I'm glad Toni was there."

I laughed, "What's that mean? You're worried about my assistant?"

The sarcasm in her voice was thick. "Worried about a young pretty woman visiting my husband in the morning all by her lonesome. No. Why would I be worried about that?"

My voice was strained, "Rachel."

"I know! I know! She's a _good_ girl. Well, I sure as hell hope so. I'd hate to have to murder your assistant!"

"Okay. Okay. Just take a breath. Nothing happened. She helped clean and I promised to make her _and_ Toni dinner as a thank you."

"Like I said, I'm just glad Toni was there." I could hear the frustration in her voice.

"Rachel, you can't act like this."

"Like what?"

"Jealous."

"Why the hell not?"

"You know why not. You cheated on me. You went away. Hell, you even suggested the damn party! Don't go getting all suspicious just because you're feeling guilty about your own shit." Wow, maybe I was better at this duplicity stuff than I thought.

She was quiet. When she spoke, there was poison in her voice. "I can't believe you said that to me. You know how hard of a time I'm having right now. How could you just throw that in my face like that?"

I took a breath to steady my nerves and so that I wouldn't scream into the phone. It honestly wasn't until this moment that I truly understood how angry I still was at her. "Throw it in your face? You act like it happened years ago. It's been just over two weeks since I found out! What? Did you expect me to just miraculously forgive you? It doesn't work that way. You went away to work on _yourself_ instead of staying to work on _us_. I love you, Rach. You know I do. But I'm still so freaking mad at you that it's not even funny. What you did to me was selfish before and after."

She sniffled, "Jake, I'm sorry. You know why I had to go."

"Yeah, you went because you were traumatized but how do you expect me to feel? It's going to take more than a week together for us to be okay. And if this job goes well you could be staying out there indefinitely. How is that even going to help repair what you broke?"

"I don't know. I don't...sorry. Hey, listen I've got to go. I'll call you later. Love you. Bye."

She hung up before I had the chance to tell her good bye. I growled and then slammed the phone into its cradle. Sarah must've heard the commotion because she came in a few seconds later to see if everything was okay.

"Yeah, I'm good Sarah. Just a little argument with my wife."

She sat across from me. "Wow. I guess things really aren't that great between you two. Want to talk about it?" She looked so sweet and earnest that I felt like I could trust her.

"Sure. But not right now. I've got too much work to do. How about I take a rain check."

She nodded. "Sure. No problem." She stood to leave but stopped. "Listen, about that dinner...do you think that it could just be the two of us?"

I was holding my documents and was forced to set them down as I took a long hard look at her. "Why is that?" I thought back to her floating eye and how she flirted with me over breakfast the morning of the party. We ended up not doing anything, which is fine. I just kind of figured that she just liked to watch. She watched me fuck my wife on this desk and she watched me shower. Hell, everyone's got one or two kinks, right?

"Oh, nothing serious. Honest. I just thought I could pick your brain about marriage stuff. You know, this wedding is fast approaching and every once in a while I have second thoughts. I just thought that you would be someone I could be honest with and well, unlike Toni, _you_ have experience being married. Besides...she already makes fun of me enough, I don't want her to know too much about me."

"Ah. Yeah, sometimes Toni can be a bit too much. Sure! It'll just be the two of us. When are you thinking?"

"Well, Chris works late on Thursdays. How about this Thursday?"

"Okay sounds good. This Thursday it is."

"So it's a date?" She smiled friendly.

"It's a date." I nodded and waved as she happily trotted out of my office. However, when I looked back at my desk and the work that was piled up before me I quickly lost any and all sense of levity. "Fuck."

"It's good to see you, Jake." Amara looked like heaven in her forest green maxi-dress. Her jet-black curls were glossy and full. Her luscious lips made me immediately think about nibbling on them. She sat back in her chair with a note pad on her lap and her eyeglasses perched on the top of her head. Why in the world did she have to be so damn gorgeous?

I adjusted myself in my chair before responding. For some reason I couldn't stop fidgeting. It was annoying. "Y-yeah, you too."

She held her face in her hand. It was the very same hand that, a few days ago, was on my thigh when she found me in the bar. She smiled knowingly. "So, what's new?"

I had to tear my eyes away from her lips in order to think straight. What the hell was she playing at? Did she want to help me in my marriage or did she want to seduce me? Both...maybe. "Umm, well not a whole lot. I spoke to Rachel today and we got into an argument."

"Want to tell me about it?"

"Why? Aren't you just going to tell me that I shouldn't argue with someone who's traumatized?"

She sat her note pad on the table next to her. She brought her cup of tea up to her seductive lips and took a long slow sip. "Why would I tell you that? If anything fighting is a good sign."

"I don't understand."

"It's normal for couples to argue. It's when we don't argue that you need to be concerned with things going unsaid. What happened?"

"Well we were talking about a party that I had at our home over the weekend."

"Party?"

I nodded. "Yeah. As you know, I just got that promotion at work. Before she left, Rachel suggested to her sister, Toni that we throw a get-to-know-you party. But she ended up leaving days before the party even happened."

"So is that what you fought about?"

"No. We fought because Rachel suggested that my assistant wants to sleep with me."

"So you fought to protect your assistant?"

"Well, no. I mean that might've been how it started but honestly I'm not sure. I think I was just frustrated and unloaded on her. I think I just used this as an excuse to get out the things that I've been wanting to say to her since she left."

"So what happened?"

"She suggested that Sarah, my assistant, came over to put the moves on me, but she didn't. She came over to help me clean up the mess from the night before. Besides, that's all that happened anyway. There wasn't any funny business whatsoever. I got mad because she was acting like I wasn't allowed to do anything or like she didn't trust me. So I told her that she was one to talk about trust when she cheated on me!"

Amara took a few notes and then looked at me. "Did she tell you that she didn't trust you?"

I took a sip of my water. "No. She didn't say it. Honestly, I think I just overreacted. She was worried about another girl not me."

"Do you think you overreacted because you normally underreact?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean throughout your marriage you've always bottled things up and tried to do things on your own. When things weren't going well, you silently took on the responsibility of trying to dote on her although that wasn't what she wanted or needed. You found out about her affair and your first response was to sleep with someone else. You saw her with the man that she cheated on you with and instead of approaching them then and there, you followed them intent on violence and look what happened. She expressed a fairly typical response to another woman coming around her husband when she's not around and you took it as an attack on your character. It just seems as if instead of dealing with your feelings you bottle them inside until they are forced out of you. Once they are, your response is to overcompensate."

Even I had to admit that she was making a lot of sense. I've never really been one to talk about my feelings and I do try to take on more than I should. "So what should I do?"

"I think that a good exercise for you will be to try telling someone when they're doing something that upsets or excites you. It doesn't have to be a big thing but you need to get used to the idea of opening up to the people around you."

I wondered if this was a challenge to tell her that I was entirely confused with her seductions. I decided to keep that one inside. One more time wouldn't be too bad. Would it?

We wrapped up the rest of our session after another half an hour. I was still scheduled to meet with her twice a week so I would see her again on Thursday.

Once I made it home, I took a shower and before the guilt got too heavy, I picked up the phone and called Rachel.

"H-hey." Even through the phone, her voice seemed oddly far away.

I plopped on the bed. "What are you doing?"

I heard something shut in the background. "Oh! Umm, nothing. What's up?"

She was acting oddly suspicious. Then again perhaps that was my [very reasonable] trust issues showing again. "Hey, I just was calling to apologize about early."

She sighed, "No. You don't need to apologize. I was the one that was in the wrong. I shouldn't have doubted her. I don't even know her."

"No. You were right to feel what you feel. I shouldn't have used it as an opportunity to jump down your throat about the things I'm feeling. I'm sorry. I know I hurt you. I'm really sorry."

She was quiet for a few seconds. When she spoke her voice was soft but expressive. "You shouldn't be apologizing to me, Jake. I did you wrong. Still, thank you so much. It was really hard to hear all of that, mostly because I realized that you were totally right. I fucked up. I destroyed our marriage. I'm the reason you got in that fight. But I'm the one that runs away. I should've stayed so that we could work on us instead of running away to deal with my own issues."

I lied back on the bed with the phone pressed tightly to my face. I realized how much I missed having her next to me. "No. Your issues are important. And honestly, how could we fix what's wrong with us when you're not healthy? I don't like it but I do think it was for the best."

"Really?"

"Really. Take your time and then come home. This isn't going to be forever, right?"

"No! Definitely not."

"Okay, good. Because I miss you. I miss your smile. I miss your laugh. I miss your touch. Hell, I even miss when you get pissed at me." At this she laughed. "I just want you...I want _us_ to be back to how we were. Both of us." That last part was for me. I knew that what I was doing with Toni was wrong but as long as Rachel was hundreds of miles away and Toni continued to be so fucking hot, I seriously doubted my ability to restrain myself. It was definitely easier to be faithful when I didn't have a choice.

"Oh Jake. I miss you too. That's why...umm no. Never mind."

Curious, I sat up. "What?"

"No. You're going to laugh at me."

"I promise I won't laugh."

She sighed. "Fine. But if you do laugh at me, I'm going to have to hurt you."

"Scout's honor."

"Okay. Well, before you called me, I was on my laptop looking at return flights. After listening to you this afternoon I felt like I owed it to you to come back home."

So that was the sound I heard. It was her laptop closing. "Oh yeah? Well, I would love to see you. Maybe I could come out there...that is if you don't mind seeing me that is."

"I don't mind at all! But I know how busy you are with work. I'm sure we'll figure something out. I'm just happy to be able to hear your voice. I just love the way your deep voice makes me feel." She started breathing heavily into the phone.

"Umm, babe? What are you doing?"

Her voice was heavy with thirst. "Want to see?"

It was an invitation that I couldn't turn down. "I'd love to see."

She went silent for a moment, and then my phone went dark just before a request to connect to a video call. I clicked the green icon and there she was. She was pressed against her headboard. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her lips were pulled back in a lecherous smile. She had one hand on the phone and the other was inside her ribbed tank top. I saw her hand moving, twisting and pulling her breast.

She sat the phone down and I got a full view of her body from between her legs.

"Want to watch me touch myself?"

I nodded. "Absolutely."

"Do you want to see..." She pulled at her panties until I could just make out her sweet lips. "...this?" She released her panties and then snuck her hand under the waist. Soon her fingers were moving, holding me in rapt attention.

"Oh my God." This was the sweetest torture that she could do. I wanted her so bad that my teeth were chattering and to only be able to see her through this small screen was beyond frustrating. A part of me almost bought a plane ticket right then but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen.

She continued this sweet torture, as she talked dirty to me through the phone. Soon we were both touching ourselves, putting on a show for each other. We danced the erotic tango to the music of our baited breaths, filthy language and long held stares.

"So I hear you're going to be having dinner with Sarah." Toni met me in the parking lot as I headed home after a particularly long Wednesday.

"Yeah. She said that she wanted to talk about marriage stuff."

"Hmm. Okay. Need a chaperone?" She leaned against my door so that I couldn't get in. She crossed her arms beneath her chest, thus forcing her breasts towards my face.

I chuckled. "No. I think I'll be fine. I'm a big boy."

Half to herself, she said, "Yeah, I've noticed."

"Toni?"

"Nothing. I guess I'm just being silly. When are you guys having dinner again?"

"Why do you ask? You want to come show up for no reason."

"No! Besides, I'd have a reason. Like I said, she wants you. I don't need any more competition. Especially from Miss. Hot Body."

I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "Toni, honestly you shouldn't worry so much."

Reluctantly, she stepped aside. "Fine, I won't. But just remember, I'm the only person that you're allowed to sleep with...other than Rachel."

"Heh! Weren't you the one that suggested a three-way?"

"That was before! Shut up!"

I laughed. "Okay, I'm sorry." I looked at my watch. "Don't you have a date tonight?"

She looked at her watch. "Oh shoot! Yeah, I've got to go."

"New guy?"

"No, this is a second date."

"Wow! A guy who ranked high enough for a second date. He must be a smooth talker."

"No. Just a guy. He's nice though."

I know it was stupid but a part of me was irritated. "So are you thinking of sleeping with him?"

She smirked, "Maybe. Why? Is that a problem?"

She knew I was annoyed but I refused to play my hand any further. "No, not a problem. I'm just wondering if you're sleeping with other people maybe I will see if Sarah is really into me or not."

She hit me, her face lighting up. "I knew it! You are into her! You'd better not touch her or I swear to God!" She hit me again.

I laughed. I had to let her know that two could play this game. Just to leave her with a bit of frustration, I didn't say if I did or didn't have an interest in Sarah. I thought it would be better to leave her mind unsettled. Lets just see how great her date goes when she's worried about that the entire night.

I found out later just how unsettled I made her.

Once again, I was fast asleep. I had come home after talking to Toni. I made myself a very light dinner with a glass or two of wine. I called Rachel and we talked for a few minutes. After that, I took a shower and went to bed. It was still early, just after 9 o'clock, but I was exhausted.

It was just after midnight when I heard my floorboards creaking. I lifted my head up and there was a faint light on the other side of my room. It was rectangular, and I knew right away that it was a phone that was being used as illumination.

Before I could call out to the sudden intruder, I heard her voice. "Why'd you do it? Huh?"

I knew it was Toni by the imprinted sexuality of her speaking patterns. "Toni?"

She came closer and tossed her phone on the end of my bed. "Why did you have to say that stuff to me before I went out on my date?"

I tried to rub the tiredness from my eyes. "Toni? What are you doing here?"

Without warning, she climbed on top of me, straddling me just below my hips. Even in the gloom I could tell that she was frustrated. I wouldn't say mad...but definitely frustrated. She struck my chest. "Thanks to you I acted like a complete jackass on my date. I liked him too! Now he's never going to call and it's all your fault!"

"How is it my fault? I didn't go on the date with you."

"Oh yes you did!" She tapped her head. "You've been in here...all night! All I kept thinking about was if you were going to sleep with Sarah or not. You can't sleep with her. I forbid it."

I shifted, "Toni, you're talking nonsense. It's midnight. Go home and get some sleep. You have work in the morning."

She hit me again. "Ugh! I can't sleep!"

"So you came all the way over here just to wake me up? That's dumb. Come on. I'm tired. If you're staying just sleep in the guest bedroom."

Her voice was heavy and threatening. "Oh, you're not going to sleep. Not until you take care of the problem you caused."

"What problem?"

"My date, you jerk!"

I laughed. "What? You want me to call him up and say, 'Hey, I know you don't know me but my sister-in-law, Toni is a great gal. Sorry she acted like a jackass. Won't ya give her another chance?' Heh! Yeah. That's not going to happen."

She was shaking her head as her hands started rubbing my chest, slowly making their way down to my trousers. "No...I've been incredibly horny. I was hoping to get some tonight. He seemed nice enough and who knows, maybe he could've been the guy that could replace you. But now I'll never know because you poisoned me with your taunts. So you're going to have to take care of my little itch, kay?" She pulled up my t-shirt and started kissing my chest, nipples and then my stomach. Needless to say, I was obviously aroused by her actions.

"T-Toni. Wait!" She stopped just long enough to untie my pajama bottoms and yank them down my body. Soon my hard cock was dancing in the breeze as she licked her lips.

"Mmmm! I'm going to eat you up! Do you think little Miss. Sunshine will do to you what I do? Huh? No. Not even my sister is willing to let you do the things to me that I am willing to allow." Before I could dispute her claims, she sucked me into her mouth and I was momentarily powerless to resist.

"Oh God!" It felt amazing to be wrapped tightly in her warm and wet mouth while her luscious lips moved up and down my rod, kissing every inch of me.

She pulled me out of her mouth, "You taste great, baby. Now don't fight it. Give momma what she want—what she's craving!"

In the time she took me out of her mouth, I had enough time to come back to my senses. "Toni, stop. We have to stop this."

She shook her head as she licked my rod from the top to bottom and back to the top. "Nuh uh. Not going to happen. I don't need you to love me, Jacob. Hell, I don't even need you to like me. But I do need you to fuck me. You fuck me so right that everyone else feels so wrong. Now come on baby. It's just sex. Right?"

It was hard to concentrate while she was pulling and licking on me. Still, I had to ask. "Is it?"

"Is what?"

"Is what we have between us just sex?"

Her voice was flat and emotionless. "Are you still married to my sister?"

"Yes."

"Then all we have between us is sex. It can't be more than that."

"If that's so then why are you here?"

"You know why I'm here. You cock-blocked me so you're going to have to pay the price."

"You're being dishonest, Toni." I knew that there was more. There shouldn't have been. Hell, we should've never even slept together. But we did. We are. We'll probably continue to do it in the future. I love Rachel but she's not the only one I fantasize about. She's not the only one that I lust after...not anymore. I didn't know where this was going with Toni, probably nowhere, but I would try my damnedest to enjoy the ride. Something told me that that was the same thought that propelled Toni. So then why was she so upset when I teased her about Sarah? Easy. She had the same feelings towards me that I was developing towards her. It was unhealthy and would likely lead to unhappiness on both of our parts but we were going to dive into Hell together with both eyes open.

Smiling, I pulled her up my body and kissed her hard. "You should be careful what you wish for. You're not going to get a lot of sleep tonight."

She smiled fiercely. "That's what coffee is for. Now come here and let me fuck your brains out, baby!"

I awoke the next morning with a pain in my side. I rolled over and saw Toni asleep with a huge smile on her face. The night before I contorted and pushed myself to the limit. I gave her what she came for and more. She screamed my name in the throes of passion and I roared her name as I found intense bliss in her tight folds.

I kissed her shoulder and then climbed out of bed. The heat from the shower helped my cramped muscles relax. I was loathed to leave the powerful jets behind but I had to get a move on the day.

When I left the bathroom, Toni was right were I left her. She was tangled in my sheets, her leg hanging over the edge of the bed. Her back was uncovered and she looked sexy in the early morning light. Dropping the towel to the ground, I decided to go and wake her up.

"Toni" I said. She didn't stir. I pulled down the covers and her plump bottom stared at me, daring me to do something. Wetting my fingers, I stuck two fingers between her thighs and gently massaged her pussy.

"Mmmm." She moaned and shifted slightly but didn't wake. That was fine. I didn't want her to wake up just yet anyway.

I pulled the covers off of her completely and then went back to rubbing her pussy. Soon she was panting and moaning in her sleep, her legs spreading to allow me easier access to her unprotected boundary.

When my fingers came back wetter than they went in, I smiled. She was ready.

Gently, I climbed on top of the bed and lied on top of her, my prick pressed right up against her entrance.

My weight and the presence of my member finally caused her to wake. Her voice was husky with a mixture of lust and sleep. "Huh? J-Jacob? What are you do...!"

She was cut off when I slowly pressed my cockhead into her tight entrance. Biting her shoulder, I buried myself inside of her as she shook in pleasure.

"Ohhhhhh!" She buried her face in the pillow as I found that sweet spot that I discovered last night. I heard her muffled voice. "Holy fuck!"

I smiled, "Good morning, Toni. I hope you didn't think that we were finished."

She turned her head and her brown eyes fell on me. "You cheeky bastard!"

That was all she got out because I kept assaulting her special spot. Soon she was pushing me back as her mouth hanged wide in open-mouthed ecstasy.

It didn't take long. I'd gotten her nice and revved up while she lied defenseless.

She whispered into the pillow, "Oh my God. I'm cumming. I'm cumming! Harder! Please! Harder!"

I growled, "Me too!" I plowed into her as I felt her squeeze down tighter.

Soon she threw her head down as she moaned so long and so deep into the pillow that I thought I would fall into the abyss with her and never emerge. I came hard and deep inside of her as she shook with her orgasm.

After our climaxes, we lied there, neither of us moving as I caught my breath in her hair. Eventually, she turned to face me. "That was the best alarm clock I've ever had." She kissed me sweetly, her eyes looking soft as they fell on me. I knew in that moment that her feelings for me ran deeper than what she pretended, just as I knew that it wasn't worth bringing up. We both knew the score.

I rolled off of her after kissing her cheek. "Shower?"

She nodded, "Shower."

The first thing I did when I got into the office was send Amara an email, canceling our appointment later that evening. I told her that I had a work meeting that would likely go beyond our scheduled meeting time. I know it's wrong to lie to your doctor, but Amara is a shrink and besides, I didn't need her analyzing an innocent dinner with my assistant.

Knock! Knock!

I lifted my head just as Sarah stuck hers in the door. "Good morning, Jake. I have your coffee." She came in and handed me the drink. She looked at once nervous and excited. After a moment, she spoke. "So, are we still on for dinner tonight?" Her hazel eyes were opened wide. She reminded me of a sweet and cute puppy.

I took the proffered coffee. "Thanks, Sarah and yes. I'm looking forward to it."

She smiled brightly, "Me too!"

After that we got to work. Today was going to be a long day and if I had any hope of making it home in time to make a dinner for the both of us I had to bust a serious move.

It was after 2 when I ran into Toni. She was heading out of the supply closet with an armful of supplies. It looked like she was preparing to go to war with a whiteboard. I leapt forward to take a hefty portion of her load.

As we headed towards the conference room she smiled. "So, I got a text from Jensen."

I shrugged. "Umm, okay. Who's Jensen?"

"The guy from last night."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"And?"

"He asked to see me this weekend."

"Yeah? You going to go?"

Now she shrugged and looked at me coyly. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Hmm."

She looked around to make sure no one was watching and then she stepped forward and placed her hand over my equipment. Her breath was sweet and her lips were glossy. "Don't worry. If things go bad then I'll always come back to you."

I stepped back. "I'm not your plaything, Toni."

She looked serious, "No. You're my fuck-buddy."

"If you say so." Before I said something that I would regret, I turned and left. I didn't see her for the rest of the day.

I made it home just in time. By the time Sarah made it over I was just putting the finishing touches on dinner.

She slid up to the island and watched as I finished cutting the vegetables for the salad. "Thanks again for this."

I nodded as I smiled at her, "Of course. Besides, I should be thanking you. You were a great help over the weekend."

"Yeah? Well, it was nice seeing you like that."

Like that? Ah! I nodded, "That's right. Sorry about that. I don't normally walk around the house shirtless." I remembered the look on her face when I answered the door. I'm sure I must've surprised her.

"It's okay. I didn't mind." She smiled sweetly as her eyes glittered. I was still shocked by the transformation that took place when she wasn't at work. Even sitting across from me, while she wore a shirt that was likely two sizes too big, she had rolled up the sleeves and pinched in the sides to the point where it still looked stylish and cool. Her tight leggings showcased her powerful thighs and her behind which was, in a word, glorious. She had half of her hair pinned to the top of her head and rested her face in her hand as she gave me an easy and confident stare. She was a masterpiece. How she was able to hide all of this at work was beyond me. It was odd. Every other woman I know takes pains to dress up and look their best. She's the opposite. She takes pains to dress down and look unremarkable. Standing there looking at her, I felt like I would never truly understand her.

Moving the salad to the table and putting the chicken and sautéed vegetables in the oven to stay warm, I poured us each a glass of wine as we sat down and started to eat our salads.

She tilted her head back. "I didn't get a chance to say anything last weekend but I really think it's neat that you painted your kitchen ceiling."

I looked up and got lost in the Tuscany hills. "Ah. Yeah. It was my wife's idea."

Her eyes fell on me. "You don't talk about her much."

"No. I guess I don't."

"Is it because of the separation?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Do you mind me asking what happened?"

I took another swig of my wine. "No, I don't mind. That's why you're here right? To get a honest depiction of marriage."

"You could say that." She smiled shyly.

"Well, Rachel and I met when we were still in college. We both fell hard. I was young and I ran with a pretty wild crowd back then. But all of that changed when I met Rachel. I'd never been in love before so when it happened I fell in deep and fast. I knew I had to grow up so I did. Perhaps too much. Rachel and I got married 7-years ago. I was still rough around the edges so her marrying me was a bit of a surprise for me. Things were great for a few years. Unfortunately, slowly but surely things started to change for the worse."

"Why? What happened?"

"It's hard to tell, but what I think it boils down to is that we both changed. I matured but kept this doe-eyed understanding of love. Rachel changed, too. I should've noticed it years ago. The first thing that happened was that we stopped talking. Not overall, mind you, but we stopped talking about the little things. This distance grew and we eventually ended up getting to a very bad place."

We had finished our salads so I got up and grabbed the plates out of the warmer while she topped off our glasses of wine.

As I sat the dish before her, she smiled friendly. "Thank you. This looks amazing!"

"I hope you like it." We spent a few minutes just eating. The only sounds were the scraping of knives against plates and guttural sounds of appreciation. Soon the food was gone. "I have some brownies and ice cream if you're interested in desert."

She shook her head. "No thanks. I don't really eat desert."

"Maybe I should take a page out of your playbook. You're body is incredible. Perhaps I shouldn't be eating desert either."

She blushed. "T-thanks. I try to keep that hidden. I guess the cat's out of the bag."

I nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is."

"So, you were saying that you guys grew apart."

"Oh. Yeah, I forgot. Umm, where was I?"

"Just that there was distance and you guys were in a bad place."

"Ah. Well, yeah we were. Eventually we barely spoke and well we all but stopped having sex. But I was okay with that. I was still too naïve and thought that it was just a phase."

She sat down her wine. She affixed me with a penetrating stare. "But it wasn't just a phase. She was cheating on you."

I nodded as I took a deep gulp of my wine. "Yeah. You knew that?"

She shrugged, "Well, coming from a woman and someone that has been cheated on, I know the signs."

This shocked me. "You've been cheated on?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Chris. That's part of the reason I moved up here. He just sort of tagged along."

"I thought you wanted to expand his horizons."

She laughed, "What would you rather me have said? 'He'd sleep with just about any skank in a skirt so I dumped him but wasn't strong enough to keep him away'."

Now it was my turn to shrug, "Yeah, I see your point." I pushed back my chair. "Want to carry on this conversation in the living room? It's much more comfortable there."

"I'll grab the wine." She grabbed the bottle and followed me out to the living room. We sat on the small loveseat, with the bottle of wine between us on the coffee table.

"Sorry that I lied about Chris and I."

"No, it's fine. Really."

"Will you finish telling me your story?"

"Sure. There's not much to tell really. I found out about the affair a few weeks ago. Now that I think about it, it'll be 3-weeks tomorrow. Apparently, she had started flirting with this guy that she worked with and about 4 months ago she started sleeping with him."

"Three weeks ago? Wasn't that your birthday?"

I was surprised, she wasn't even my assistant then. "Yeah. You knew that?"

She took a sip of her wine, her cheeks red. "Y-yeah. I promise I'm not a stalker. I just thought it was good practice to know my boss' birthday."

"Ah. Well, that makes sense I guess. When's your birthday?"

"January 7th."

"Okay, I'll have to remember it."

"Okay. So what happened then? How'd you find out?"

"Well that's the kicker. See Toni told me. She found out the day before I did and gave Rachel 24 hours to tell me. But instead of telling me the truth she embarked on a weekend trip to Las Vegas with the other guy."

"Holy shit!" Her hand went to her mouth. She looked shocked that those words would even come to her lips.

I laughed and teased, "That's the first time that I've heard you curse. You didn't break anything did you?"

She cut her eyes at me and then swiped at my shoulder, "Don't be a meanie, Jake!"

"Heh! You said 'meanie'. That's so cute."

Her face was red and she whined, "Stop teasing me!" I noticed when she got embarrassed her accent came out more. It was cute and country. It suited her way better than the Northerner accent she forced out.

"Okay. I'm sorry. But yeah. That happened."

"So Toni knew? Hmm. That's interesting." Why it was so interesting I didn't know.

Still, I nodded nonetheless. "Yeah, but like I said she found out the day before I did."

"That had to be hard."

"It was. I gave Rachel everything and when I found out that she was doing that I was broken. I immediately knew that I had to change but didn't know how."

"Sorry, but when she came by the office a few days later you seemed happy to see her."

"She's my wife. I hated what she did. I hated her for doing it. But I still love her."

"So even now?"

"Even now. We started seeing a marriage counselor and things were going better."

"But you guys are separated now."

"We are. See to make a long story short, I kind of ran into the other guy and he was with her. We got into a fight after I found out that he hit her. Rachel witnessed it and had a bit of a breakdown. The therapist and Rachel both thought that distance was the best thing for us."

"Hmm. That doesn't seem fair. She cheated on you. You defend her and then she runs away."

"Yeah. That pretty much sums it up."

"Good grief. That's horrible." She reached out to me and patted my leg. "I'm really sorry that you've had to go through all of that."

I squeezed her hand for a heartbeat before releasing it. "Thanks. But it's like they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I did change after finding out. I'm not as naïve or forgiving as I was before. I've removed the sugarcoated glasses from my eyes and am able to see her as the person that she is and not for who I want her to be. I think that's important in a marriage. People grow and change. That's natural. But one person trying to force someone to be what they're not isn't fair. I don't think a marriage can work that way. In retrospect, I think her cheating got her what she wanted though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she said that she wanted more. More danger. More of this. More of that. Blah. Blah. Blah. I think that my older personality was part of what drew her to me. When that was gone, I think she lost a bit of that interest. Now that it's resurfaced I know she's happier."

"Yeah, but she had to destroy your marriage to get there. Was it worth it?"

"No. I don't think so but it happened. We can't go back."

"I agree. So what about you? Have you ever cheated on her."

I nearly dropped my glass. "Umm...well...no. I mean, I _had_ always been faithful to her." I thought it was best to keep that last bit to myself. If I told her that I had slept with someone else it wouldn't take her more than one guess to figure out who that was with.

She tilted her head to the side, resting it on the back of the couch. Her eyes twinkled, "So you're saying you've _never_ been tempted?"

I could feel my pulse quickening. There was something so arousing about her although she didn't try. There was this innocence that just grabbed me by the shirt collar, threatening to never let go. I took a drink to steady myself. It wouldn't do to make a move on her, especially when she was coming to me for advice. "Umm, I wouldn't say that. I mean there's temptation everywhere. I'm not a saint." What she thought of my declaration, I didn't know. There was this easy smile on her face as she watched me. What the hell was wrong with me? She wasn't coming on to me. I mean, not even a little! But I still felt like I should make a move. Perhaps I've been spending too much time with Toni. "Ahem! Well, anyway that's my story."

She sat up and refilled her glass. "So do you think you two will be able to fix what's broken?"

"Yeah, I think so. I think this time apart is good for both of us. I need to blow off some steam, too. I didn't fully realize the depth of my frustration and anger until the other day. This will definitely be good for us."

"Woo! I don't know if I would have the strength. No, that's not true—I _definitely_ wouldn't have the strength. But good for you. Does anyone else know?"

"Umm, Toni and my therapist but that's it. Now you."

"So I'm in good company?"

I thought about the tempting and dirty things that I have done or wanted to do with both women then I looked at Sarah. She was staring at me with those big hazel eyes. "Umm, yeah. I'd say so."

Smiling, she shifted until she was sitting upright. "So I guess it's my turn."

I poured myself more wine and offered some to her. She refused. "Only if you're comfortable."

"Well, it's only fair, right?"

I nodded and motioned to her, "The floor is all yours."

Giggling she said, "Thanks." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Hmm. Where should I begin? Well, Chris is the only man I've been with. Like I told you, we're form a really small town so I've known him practically my whole life. We started dating when we were young. I was a bit pudgier back then. Chris has always been kind of the 'Big Man' in our age group so he was always popular with the ladies. I knew all of this of course. Believe me, two mice couldn't get it on in our town without someone hearing the squeaks. But I felt like I just had to put up with it. I...umm...didn't have a lot of self-esteem back then. Who knows? Maybe I still don't. But anyway, we dated even through college. Well, I went to college but Chris started working right after high school. He'd come visit me on the weekends or he'd make me come home. Because I was either with him or back home, I didn't make a whole lot of friends."

A very clear picture was beginning to form in my mind. Chris seemed like your typical overprotective hypocritical scumbag. I've known dozens of them. It was better for anyone involved to end things as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that Sarah was fortunate enough to have done so.

"Well, about a year ago I found out that another girl, Brooklyn, was claiming that Chris was the father of her little boy. Brooklyn was a bit promiscuous herself and it turned out that Chris wasn't actually the father. But that was too much for me. I couldn't deal with all those small minds and eyes looking at me and judging me for staying with a guy like him. So I dumped him and moved up here. I was finally free. I started working on myself—you know like mind and body stuff. I met a few people. I got a great job and things were going well...for about three months. Chris had been trying to call me and email me but I never responded. It was easy to blow him off over electronic stuff like that. But then one day he just up and showed up on my doorstep. I didn't know how he got my address but he did. He claimed that he had changed and that he was serious. He proposed to me on the spot and I was so shocked that I didn't say no. You know...now that I think about it, I don't even think I said yes. He put the ring on me and kissed me. It seemed like seconds later he was moving his stuff into my apartment. We've lived together ever since."

That wasn't the smartest move on her part but who am I to judge? "So, what is it that you wanted to ask me?"

"I'm getting to that. See, for a couple of months things were great. Of course, because of the constant cheating and his claim to be a better person, I put a kibosh on sex. I wanted to test this new Chris. As it turned out he was even more affectionate and loving but because I wouldn't budge on the sex thing, things started to get worse. He's always been a bit jealous but now it's insane. I didn't get it. _He_ was the one that was cheating all the time. I've never been unfaithful. I only wanted to put my foot down and show him that I wouldn't take it anymore but he thought otherwise. He started accusing me of not wanting to have sex because I was sleeping with someone else. Heck, since he's been back, he hasn't even seen me with my shirt off. I'm serious! Things have just gotten worse. I told him that I won't have sex until the wedding and he blew up. He acted like I was plotting to blow up his truck or something. He was furious. A few months back I was doing laundry and found a receipt to this massage parlor in his pocket. When I asked him about it he accused me of not trusting him. Perhaps I didn't trust him but I was right to wonder. I did some research and found out that this place was seriously shady. When I confronted him about it he admitted that he had been having sex with other women. Heck, he said it was _my_ fault. He said that if I wasn't trying to emasculate him that he wouldn't have done it. He said that a fiancée should always put out for her fiancé. He said that I was a disgrace. He called me ugly and fat and all the mean names that he used to call me. You know what the sad part was? I believed him. I let him call me those things and thought that he was right. I felt like it was my fault that he did those things and that I deserved to be treated that way. I mean, that's the only way I've ever been treated so how would I know any different?"

Yeah. I was fuming. I thought that the worst part about Chris was his racist ideology. I was wrong. He was an all-around piece of fucking shit!

"I don't know why I'm telling you all of this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're my boss. Maybe this is crossing professional boundaries. I don't want you to treat me any different at work because you know how pathetic I can be."

I sat my glass down and reached for her hand. As I held her hand, I looked deep into her eyes. "Sarah, from what I can tell you're not pathetic. You're a wonderful person that deserves someone who treats her as such." I wanted to tell her to ditch the loser but I couldn't. It wasn't my place.

"Thank you, Jake. That means a lot." She pulled her hand back and used it to tuck her hair behind her ear. Taking a long draught of her wine, she asked, "So do you think that this marriage is something I should even do? I mean, if he's cheating now he's never going to be faithful just because I'm his wife. Am I stupid for thinking that he'll ever change? How do I make this work when I don't even know if it's worth it?"

"Honestly, Sarah I don't know what to tell you. What works for one marriage won't necessarily work for another. Relationships are complicated. If you take almost any person and implant them into the middle of even the most successful marriage, the way the married couple interacts probably wouldn't work for that person. It seems like you've gone through a lot and the only advice I can give you is that you should trust yourself. I think you're stronger than you think you are. I saw it at the party when you shut him up before I had to. You have an edge—a fire to you that you need to believe in. Do what you need to do for you. That way, when you're looking back on your life, you'll know that, at the very least, you made the choices that you thought would bring you the most happiness."

I could sense that she wanted me to tell her to leave him but it wasn't my move to make. Even if I did somehow convince her, if the choice didn't come from her then she would probably just take him back again. No, she had to decide for herself what was best. All I could do was be a friend.

The room was quiet as she looked off into space. While she was lost in her thoughts, I watched her and listened to the ticking of my watch. Eventually, she spoke. "Thanks. I don't know what I'm going to do but I know that I feel better getting all of this off my chest."

"You're very welcome. I'm happy to be your sounding board."

She laughed, "Just not at work."

I nodded as I smiled. "Yeah, this isn't really work appropriate."

"No. It's not."

"So is that all that you wanted to ask me?"

I watched as her eyes practically glowed. She leaned closer, "Well...there is something else." She grabbed her phone. "The other day..."

Bum-Cha-Cha! Bum-Cha-Cha! Bum!

We were both startled when her ringtone started blaring. She looked at the screen and then back at me. Her eyes grew wide as she mouthed, "Chris!"

She pressed the button and put the phone to her ear. I was silent as I eavesdropped on her conversation.

"Uh...hey babe. What's up?... Oh, umm I'm just having a dinner.... With a friend!... Yes!... You were working late so I didn't think you'd mind.... Sure. Okay. I'm on my way."

When she hanged up the phone she looked drained and as if she had aged 10 years. I hated seeing her like that but what could I do?

Once she spirited her phone in her purse she stood. "I'm sorry. I've got to get going."

I stood. I tried to smile but my face wouldn't make the motion. The best I could manage was this kind of sorrowful piteous grimace. "It's okay."

I walked her to the door. She turned and after standing on her toes, she kissed my cheek. "Thanks for tonight. The food was delicious. Thanks for opening up to me and letting me unload on you."

"Of course. Thanks for coming. I'll see you in the morning. Drive safe."

I watched her car back out of my driveway and then closed the door. I hoped she made the right choice...well...the choice that I thought was right.

The next day was Friday. I walked into the office and rounded the corner at my usual time. I was expecting to see Sarah but instead there was a brunette with a severe bob-cut sitting at her desk.

"Umm, hello. Who are you?"

She looked at once lost and wholly unprepared. "Oh. Hi! I'm Marcia. I'm a temp."

This raised an eyebrow. "Sarah's not here?"

She shrugged. "I guess not. I'm here to fill in today. Umm, can I get you anything, sir?"

I shook my head. It wasn't like Sarah to miss work. I hoped that she was okay.

All I can say is thank God it was Friday! I didn't realize just how much I relied on Sarah's support. That temp didn't cut it. I hoped Sarah was back on Monday.

I was standing at the coffee machine just staring. I felt her huge F-cups rubbing against my back. Her voice was smoky. "Hey big boy."

I smiled, "Hey Toni. What's up?"

She leaned back against the counter so that her face and body were in my line of sight. She pretended to play with the low hanging charm on her necklace, which was on the verge of being lost in her generous cleavage. I pretended not to stare but we both knew the truth. "Oh nothing. Just wondering what you had planned this weekend."

"Oh, me? Not much. I'm probably just going to work on office stuff. Why? What about you?"

She smiled devilishly. "Well, _I_ have a date tonight."

I rolled my eyes. I was determined not to show how irritated I really was. "Yeah? So that guy took you back, huh? Good for you. Don't screw it up this time."

"Ugh! I won't!"

I chuckled as I poured a cup of coffee. "Good for you, Toni."

I saw her fists clench. She had wanted me to overreact and by pretending like I didn't mind, I failed to play into her scenario. Her voice lost its lustful tone and became challenging. "Yeah and I'm probably going to have sex with him!"

I nodded as I kept the sly smirk on my face. "It's your life."

"It is my life and I'm going to do what I please!"

I stretched my back like it was pained.

She noticed and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Who me? Oh, just a late night last night." The smirk was still on my face.

She leaned into me, "Up late? Why?"

I feigned shock. "Oh! I didn't tell you? Sarah came over for dinner last night." Upon the mention of Sarah's name, Toni's eyes grew dark and quite ominous. I smiled, which caused a tremor of rage to flash over her face. "You know how it is. Dinner. Drinks. And then..."

She pulled at my sleeve and whispered fiercely. "Is that why she's not here today?"

I shrugged. "Who knows?"

She pulled me even harder. I felt her small hand shake as she squeezed my arm. "I'm not kidding around, Jacob." Her voice was icy. Her stare was dangerous. I was elated.

Taking my coffee, I headed out of the kitchen. Before I rounded the corner, she called out to me. "Jacob!"

I turned and quiet pleasantly asked, "Yes, Toni?"

My nonchalant nature irked her even more. "Just tell me...you didn't..."

I leaned in. "Huh? Didn't what?" Just then, the temp came around the corner.

"Oh! There you are, sir. There's a Ms. Ozawa on the line for you. She says it's important."

I nodded. "Okay. Be right there." I turned back towards Toni and smiled. "Have fun on your date tonight."

As I left I heard her growl in frustration. It looks like this date will end up like the last. I chuckled all the way back to my desk. Sometimes it was great being a little bad.

After work, I stopped to pick up a nice 18-year old scotch. I was going to be working this weekend. I might as well enjoy it. But when I pulled closer to my house, I saw a tan sedan parked in my driveway. I knew that car. It was just there last night. When I pulled into my driveway, I saw Sarah sitting on my stoop, her head bowed so that her hair covered her face. She wore her the same oversized shirt and leggings that she wore the night before.

Instead or pulling into the garage, I parked in the driveway and walked up to the front of the house.

"Sarah? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

When she tilted her hair back and her hair fell back two things became apparent. First, she was _not_ okay. She had been crying, hard. Her eyes were puffy and her skin was blotchy. Second, there was a solid bruise around her neck. You can probably guess what it was. I almost ignited when I saw the hand print on her throat.

"Sarah. Who did this to you?" I knew who did it. I only asked for confirmation.

Her voice was broken. I didn't know if it was from too much crying or from a bruised windpipe. "Chris." There was the confirmation.

I held out my hand and helped her stand. After unlocking my door, I ushered her inside.

Once inside, I lead her to the same loveseat we shared last night. Only this time, there was no levity. This was wrong. It was all so horribly wrong. She walked like a zombie, her feet barely lifting off the ground to cover her transport. Once she was sitting safely on the furniture, I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a tall glass of water. By the time I came back out, she was crying again.

I sat the water on the table and sat next to her.

She shuddered, "Oh God!" She fell into me and I caught her and held her while she cried.

I didn't shush her. I didn't tell her that everything would be okay. There was nothing okay about this. Domestic violence, whether it's committed against a woman or a man, is _never_ okay.

I let her cry and I just held her while I thought about all the bad things that I wanted to do to Chris. Man, I hope I get the chance.

Between sobs she would cry, "I was so scared" or "I thought he was going to kill me."

Eventually she calmed down enough to drink some water and allowed me to asked, "What the hell happened?"

She roughly wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Umm, last night. Chris came home drunk. When he knew I wasn't there, he called me. You heard all of that. Well, when I got home he was all in my face. He accused me of sleeping with someone just because I wasn't there when he got home. I told him that I would never do that and that he was the only one that's been sleeping around. He started hitting me. He did this." She leaned back, slowly. She pulled the hem of her shirt up to her chest. There were fist-sized bruises all over her abdomen.

The son-of-a-motherfucking-bitch! He didn't just choke her, he beat her. As if choking her wasn't enough. That guy is going to see what it's like to pick on someone bigger than he is!

She released her shirt and pulled it down to her knees. She pulled herself into a little ball and rocked slowly. She started talking but I didn't feel like she was talking to me. "H-he said...as he hit me...that I'm his property. He said that I'm an ugly, fat dog. He said that if I'm not going to put out then I'm going to be punished. He said that hitting me there won't leave any marks so no one will believe me if I tell on him. He said that I was worthless. H-he squeezed...so _hard_! He said he would kill me. He wanted me to die. I would either obey him or I would die...his words. W-why would he do this to me? Why? I've only ever been faithful. I go to church. I cook. I clean. I work. I pay for his escapades. I do everything. Everything! So why? Why do this?"

She started shaking. I grabbed the blanket from the chair and wrapped it over her shoulders. I held her close. "I'm so sorry that this happened. I'll make him pay. You can bet on it." I haven't known Sarah long but from what I know (even considering her voyeuristic ways) she was a good person. No one deserves to be treated this way.

"I-I'm sorry I just showed up. I didn't have anywhere else to go. I don't have any friends and I couldn't stay there."

"No. Don't apologize. I'm glad you came. You can stay here as long as you need to. I promise. This isn't a problem." This went beyond boss/subordinate or friend-to-friend relationships. My Code of Honor wouldn't allow me to let her leave. Even if she said she wanted to go back home to him, I wouldn't have allowed it. I couldn't have!

"Do you have luggage?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't have anything. I left with what I had. When he was done beating on me with his fists, he went into the bedroom to grab a belt. I think...I think he was going to whip me. He was going to whip me like an animal." Her voice was heavy and filled with disbelief. Perhaps it was just shock. "I-I ran. When he walked into the other room, I grabbed my purse and ran. I spent the night in my car at one of those carpool parking lots by the freeway."

"Has he ever hit you before?"

She nodded. "He's pushed me around a few times and slapped me once or twice but it's never been like this."

"Have you reported him to the police?"

She shook her head. "N-no."

I nodded. "Okay. Then that's our first step. We need to go to the police." I hated pushing this. She was clearly in no shape to deal with the police but it a necessary evil.

"I-I don't know."

I placed my finger under her chin and forced her to look at me. "Sarah. I can't force you to go but if you don't he will get away with it. You need to file a report. You need to get a restraining order. You're not an animal. You're a wonderful, smart, strong and beautiful woman. You need to take control of your life. Let me help you. We're friends, right?"

She became teary up, but this time I knew it wasn't filled with despair. "W-will you be there?"

I nodded, "Of course."

Her eyes became steely. "Okay. Lets go."

Four hours later, we were back at my home. The report was filed, as was the request for a temporary restraining order. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to see a judge today so she'll have to go to the circuit court on Monday. But for now she was safe. The deputies would be going to her apartment and will remove him as a trespasser later tonight. She was free to go home but she didn't want to be alone. Again, my Code wouldn't allow for me to leave her be. I invited her to stay until the temporary restraining order was in place. She agreed.

We parked her car in my garage so that if, by chance, he came looking for her, he wouldn't know that she was at my home. Although, I didn't so much mind. I planned on being Karma's messenger so the sooner I find him the better.

I ran her a hot bath while she familiarized herself with my house. While she soaked in the tub, I ran out and picked up a few necessities. Fortunately, the drawers were stocked from Toni staying the night at random times so there were some things for her to wear.

We didn't talk much that night. I ordered pizza and she and I sat in front of the TV and ate. I made a point of only playing comedies. It wasn't that I thought she needed a laugh, it was because I didn't want her to see anything that would remind her of what happened. When she finally fell asleep, I carried her to the guest bedroom and tucked her in. I kissed her forehead and whispered goodnight. Seeing her lying there looking so innocent, sweet, and bruised from head to toe made a new fire bloom in me. I really hated that fucking guy!

The next morning, we were sitting at the breakfast table. Sarah was shifting uncomfortably because she was wearing one of the nighties that Toni left behind. It covered all the bits but because her bust was just about as big as Toni's there was a delectable amount of her breasts on display. From the way she was first dressed when she came over to help set up the party, I knew that she had it in her, at times, to show a bit more skin but apparently now wasn't one of those times.

"How did you sleep?"

She practically dropped her fork of eggs on her plate. "Oh! Umm, great thanks!"

I smiled, "Of course."

There was a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"Hey, umm Jake. Do you like...have anything else I can wear? This is kind of..."

I laughed. "Yeah, thank Toni for that. I'm not sure what's all in there. If you want, you can wear something of mine. We'll go out later and pick up a few things."

She nodded, blushing. "That'd be great. Thanks."

I looked at her neck. That bruise didn't seem like it was planning to leave anytime soon. "How's your stomach?"

"I...umm...it hurts still."

"Want me to take a look?"

She swallowed hard and stood. Her long toned legs appeared beneath the bottom of the nightie. It was crazy how insane her body was. I was looking at her thighs and it took all of my self control not to launch myself over the table at her. But I held fast. She was here for help, not as a conduit for my immature affections.

She pulled up her nightie. I tried and failed to avoid stealing a glance at her panties. However, once her stomach was visible, all of my attention went there. Although her stomach was taut and her abs were clearly visible, the bruises took over the show. There were at least ten bruises on her abdomen. I leaned over the table to take a closer look as she closed her eyes and turned her face away.

I was inspecting her wounds when I heard a sudden gasp.

"What the hell is going on?"

If I live to be 100, that is a voice that I'll never forget. In that moment everything stopped as I turned and saw my wife, standing in the opening, a forgotten weekend bag fallen by her feet.

Rachel's long hair was pulled back in a half ponytail. Her lips were plump and she wore her reading glasses. She was dressed casually in a tight pair of jeans and a ruffled shirt. Her face was glorious, even in her rage. And yes...there was a lot of rage in that face.

She stepped into the room as I turned fully and while Sarah dropped the hem of her nightie. "I said...what the hell is going on?" Her small frame was tense she dropped her purse and keys on the ground.

"R-Rachel!" I looked from her to Sarah and back. I held up my hands and moved between them. "Rachel, honey. It's not what it looks like."

She wasn't listening. This was the absolute worst thing that could be happening. "Why the fuck is this bitch in my goddamn house? Did you sleep with her? Oh my god! You fucked her didn't you?"

In that moment the only thing I could think of was that I was glad she wasn't carrying the gun I got her. "Rachel, I know how this looks but believe me. I'm not sleeping with her. There is a story here and if you just take a breath, I'll tell you."

She crouched, ready to pounce on Sarah. "Story? I don't give a damn about the story. I'm going to kill you!" She jumped towards Sarah and I caught her in midair. She struggled in my arms. "Let me go! Let me go, Jake! I'm going to kill her. You bitch! You're sleeping with my husband! Let me go!"

"R-Rachel! Stop!"

She was shaking and fighting furiously. "I'm not going to stop until she's dead! I came home to surprise you and look what I find. You've been diddling this little slut!"

"That's enough, Rachel! I haven't slept with her. She stayed the night here because her ex-fiancé beat her the other night. She didn't have a place to stay and she didn't have any clothes so she borrowed what Toni left here. I was just looking at the bruises he left on her. I promise! I didn't do anything with her."

"I don't believe you! I don't..." In that moment, Rachel must've noticed the deep purple handprint on Sarah's neck. She stopped struggling and breathing heavily. "W-what happened to you?" Now all traces of anger were dispelled as took in Sarah's apparent state.

Sarah's voice was still scratchy. She croaked, "It's like he said. My ex...Chris hit me. Jake let me stay here and even took me to the police. I promise that nothing happened. He's just being a good guy, that's all."

Rachel looked between the two of us. "Jake?"

"Yeah, babe?"

"What the fuck is going on?"

I sighed. "Have a seat. I'll tell you what happened."

Twenty minutes and three glasses of wine later, Rachel was calmer. She held Sarah's hand as she became teary-eyed. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry you went through that. I'm sorry I misread things. Me going postal was the last thing you needed."

Sarah smiled, "It's okay. I get it. If I would've walked in on what you did I think I would've thought the same."

Rachel tilted her head back on my shoulder. When she looked at me there was both pride and love glowing in her eyes. "So you're not just my Knight, huh?"

I smiled, "I'll always be your Knight, babe. You know that."

Sarah watched us with an odd look on her face. It wasn't a jealous look, or even a disgusted look. If I had to guess, it was a longing. Despite the issues between Rachel and I, there was still love. It was broken and torn, but we have been able to glue some of the pieces back together. It'll never look like the masterpiece that it was before, but somewhere, in the disrupted reality of what we faced, we created a humbling reimagining of our lost artwork.

Her voice was soft as she watched us. "I envy you two."

Rachel smiled ruefully, "Thanks but believe me...we've had our share of troubles."

Sarah just nodded. She didn't explain how I had already told her what was going on with us so Rachel wasn't aware that Sarah knew anything. She stood. "I think I'm going to go back to bed for a little while."

We both nodded. "Okay, Sarah. If you want to go back to your place later, I'll go with you. He's probably been picked up already."

She nodded, "Thanks, Jake. That sounds good."

After she left, Rachel and I were alone. I chuckled, "Welcome home babe."

She sighed, "That poor girl. What an asshole!"

"Yeah, he is. You should've seen him at the party last week. I thought I was going to have to beat him to a pulp."

I knew that imagining me being violent wasn't something that excited Rachel, especially after what happened. So I was surprised by her response, "I wish you would've. The prick would've deserved it."

I held her tightly. "This is a nice surprise."

She smiled, "Yeah. It didn't go as I originally planned but I'm still happy I came home to see you."

"How long do I have you for?"

"Until tomorrow evening."

"Well then lets not waste a minute."

She turned. Crawling up my body, she smiled, "I agree!" Her lips crushed against mine and they tasted of cherry.

Taking my hand, she led me up the stairs into our bedroom. As we passed the closed guest bedroom door, she looked over her shoulder and brought one finger up to her mouth, signaling that I should be extra quiet. I nodded.

Once we were in our bedroom and the door was closed, Rachel stripped within 5 seconds. She stood before me, her slim body looking beyond enticing in the morning light. I felt her small fingers pulling at my pajama bottoms as I pulled my shirt off of my body.

Yes. It is true that I've slept with another woman and have fantasized about more. But when I was right before Rachel, those other women were very far removed from my mind. That doesn't make me a better person but I didn't care. I was having fun and for once in a long time, I was content with where I was in the world.

Picking her up, I carried her to the bed and laid her down gently. I kissed her lips as she moaned against me. Placing her hand on my shoulder, she silently requested a different embrace. As requested, I moved down her body until her bush and glistening lips were before my eyes. I dove straight in.

She screamed, "Holy fuck!"

I smirked, "Shh!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" She grabbed one of the pillows and pressed it over her face before I dug back in. The muffled sounds of her pleasure filled our room just as the taste, smell and feel of her filled my mind.

We made love. It was soft, but at times hard. It was slow, but at times fast. It was completely enjoyable and fulfilling.

After we were spent, she rested her head on my chest as we drifted into an early morning nap.

I awoke an hour later to find Rachel and my car gone. Sarah was still asleep so I didn't make much noise. Twenty minutes later, Rachel showed up with a bag from one of the stores in our area.

"What's this?" I kissed her cheek. I loved the feel of her body so close to mine.

"Oh, just some stuff for Sarah. She said she left with her purse and keys. I thought that she'd need stuff like panties and a toothbrush and stuff. So I went out and picked up a few things."

I kissed her lips. "That's so sweet babe."

A couple of hours went by and Sarah woke up. When she saw the bag of necessities that Rachel bought her, she launched forward, holding Rachel tightly. "Thank you so much! You both are such wonderful people!"

She left and headed into the guest bathroom. I heard the shower turn on and after about 40-minutes, she came out. Her long hair was still wet but her eyes were fresh and confident. Rachel had bought her some leggings and a few t-shirts. Other than the t-shirts looking a little boxy it all fit her better than some of the other things I've seen her wear.

I took that time to take a quick shower and dress. We left shortly after she climbed out of the shower. Rachel stayed behind.

Her apartment was in a gated community but wasn't really in the best area. Her small first floor apartment was decorated in what could only be described as Country/Modern. When we first showed up, she was nervous to go inside so I went in first. Once I came back out and promised that he wasn't there, she came in. While she went straight for the suitcases and started packing, I continued to look around her small space.

There were a lot of photos of her and Chris. In most of those photos she was smiling freely at the camera while he was in the middle of looking elsewhere. In the older pictures, I saw that she was a bit heavier than she is now.

We had been there for about 20-minutes when I heard the door open. I turned and my eyes fell upon the exact person that I was hoping to run into. I had to stifle my maniacal glee or else I would've sounded mad.

Chris dropped his keys on the table by the door. He affixed me with a surprised look. "You're Sarah's boss right? James was it? What are you doing here."

Right before I could dig into him about how much of a bastard he is, Sarah came around the corner. She had a suitcase in tow, "Jake? Did you leave? I thought I heard the door open." She froze when she saw him. I saw real fear in her eyes as she took a tentative step backwards.

Chris saw her and his eyes grew large as his nostrils flared. "Sarah! What the fuck? You had me arrested? I had to spend the night with a bunch of miscreants! You've got some fucking explaining to do!"

As he steamed towards her, her back hit the wall as she mumbled. Before he even made it a third of the way over to her, her hands were already up, covering her face in case he moved to strike her.

I was faster than either of them. He was half way across the room before I started moving but I still covered more distance faster than he did. By the time he made it close enough to touch her, I was already there, standing between them. He stopped and took a step back. He looked up at me as if he was willing to go through me.

I silently prayed that he would try.

"W-what are you doing? Get out of my way! This is between us!"

I shook my head slowly as a threatening smile came to my lips. "Nuh uh. You're _never_ going to touch her again. She doesn't want you here."

He stood to his full height and puffed out his chest. "Doesn't want me here? Her? No way! She's my woman. I belong here. You should leave!"

"I'm not going anywhere. If you want to try to make me leave then be my guest. Lets see how you do when you're not fighting someone smaller than you—you fucking bully!"

"You don't know what you're talking about! Tell him to leave, Sarah!"

I looked over my shoulder, Sarah's eyes were huge as she continued to crumple in the corner. She looked terrified. She mumbled, "I-I-I..."

His voice was harsh and caused her to jump. I knew this was the same voice he use when he beat and abused her. "Sarah! You fucking cow! Get your head out of your goddamn ass and kick this bastard out!"

Sarah was practically devolving right in front of me. That was it. While it wasn't my place, he seriously overstayed his welcome.

I turned towards him with my fists clenched. My voice was eerily calm. "Okay. You're finished here. I'll give you one final chance to fall on your knees and apologize. You did something that no one, especially someone calling himself a 'man' should ever do. You put your hands on your woman. You stupid fuck! You're supposed to take care of her. You're supposed to love her and cherish her. But you're too much of a bastard to do that. You ignorant asshole! Sarah is beautiful. She is smart. She is sweet. She is strong. If you weren't such a piece of garbage you would see this and appreciate it. You think that just because you've been around her for all this time that you know her? You don't. I've known her for 3-weeks and I bet there are things about her that I could tell you that you're too blind to see. I would like nothing more than to beat you the same way that you did her but that wouldn't really help her, would it?" By this point he was backed up against the door as I stood over him, tense and ready for action.

He looked passed me. "S-Sarah! Say something!" In that moment he looked like the person he really was—a tiny frightened little boy in big boy pants.

I turned partially and looked at Sarah. She was still hiding behind her suitcase. I smiled to let her know that everything would be okay. "How about it, Sarah? I think it's time that you stood up for yourself. You're stronger than you know. Just believe in yourself."

Her eyes moved between us. With each revolution I saw the fear reduce. It was never really gone but it reduced to the point where she was able to stand.

"I-I-I..." She took a deep breath and then took one step closer. For some, that step might've seen small, even insignificant. But I saw it for what it really was. In that one step Sarah had shed the layers of self-doubt that limited her and had stepped over the precipice. She stepped into the future. It was unknown and a scary place but she did it nonetheless. She squared her shoulders and her eyes touched on mine for only a moment before she looked at him. "I want you out of here and out of my life." Her voice was calm and level. Her voice didn't break and it resounded of the hidden well of strength that she had underneath. She took the ring off of her finger and threw it at him. I stepped out of the way as it struck him in the chest.

"S-Sarah, baby..."

She shook her head, "Don't call me that! You don't love me. You only wanted to control me. I'm done. We're done."

He pointed at me. "It's him isn't it? He's poisoned you against me!"

"No! You did that when you cheated on me and abused me!"

"Come on, Sarah. You know I was just drunk baby. I didn't mean any of that. I'm sorry."

"I've heard that before, Chris. Or have you forgotten that this wasn't the first time."

"Sarah...baby. Come on. It's this city. Lets just go back home. We can work things out."

"No! I'm never going anywhere with you again. We're finished. Don't contact me ever again. Now get out."

He exploded, "You fucking slut cow! You don't tell me what to do you bitch!"

She screamed, "Enough! I'm tired of you talking down to me! I'm not a bitch. I'm not a slut! And I'm not a fucking cow! You're a creep that I should've kicked to the curb years ago! I fucking hate you!"

He responded, "You hate me! You should fucking love me! No other guy would put up with your stupid ass! Whose fault do you think it is that I've been sleeping around? Huh? You're horrible in bed! We haven't had sex in so long that I bet you don't even remember how to do it!" Then he looked at me. "It's him isn't it?" He poked my chest.

I turned to him and warned, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You touch me again and I'm going to knock your lights out."

He sneered, "Fuck you!" But he still pulled his hand back and held it against his side.

Sarah stepped forward, "That's enough, Chris! We're through! Done! Finished! I don't ever want to see you again. I'm going to find someone that I deserve. Someone that sees me for me and treats me the way that I deserve to be treated. I've put up with you for as long as I can remember but I'm not going to anymore. I'm not alone now. I have friends. I have people that care about me." Her eyes flittered to me and I smiled and nodded.

Chris was irate. "Him? Him! You're saying you're friends with a guy? You stupid cunt! Guys don't want to be friends it's just a lie until they can fuck you. And you're going to end up fucking this goddamn ape?" He poked my chest again. "You're going to fuck a dirty ni...!"

Before he finished that disgusting word my fist found his face and he collapsed on the ground. It was lights out.

I looked down at him and shrugged. "I warned you." I turned and headed towards Sarah. I hugged her tightly. "I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself."

She hugged me back. "Thanks! That felt great."

I couldn't have felt as good as I did when I punched him but I kept that to myself.

He awoke after a couple minutes and groaned. Once he climbed, unsteadily, to his feet, he fell back against the door. He saw the two of us standing there, neither cared for his loss of consciousness. "You bastard! You fucking hit me! I'll call the cops on you!"

I tilted my head to the side. "Hmm. Did I hit you?"

He blinked several times. "Of course you hit me you dick! Sarah saw the whole thing. Tell him, Sarah!"

Now she tilted her head to the side. "Did I?"

"W-what are you talking about. You saw him hit me!"

"That's not what _I_ saw. I saw you assault him and him defend himself."

His lip was quickly swelling as he whined, "B-b-but that's not true."

She cocked her hip to the side. "Well, that's what I'm going to tell the cops." He threw his hands to his side in a little tantrum. I think in that moment she finally saw him for the pathetic creature that he is. "Look, it's time for you to go. Go back home. You don't belong here. You and I will never speak again."

He cried, "W-what about my stuff?"

She said stonily, "I'll mail you your things."

Knowing that things were over and that he wouldn't be allowed closer to her with me standing there, he turned and left with his tail between his legs. It wasn't the ending that I imagined but it was the one that Sarah needed. She had taken control of her life and in that moment, I knew she would be okay.

We made it back home without incident. I could sense a change in Sarah. It was small but infinite. I knew that in that moment she would be okay and that even if I wasn't there, if Chris came back around she would kick him to the curb.

"So? How'd it go?" Rachel had changed and was wearing some tiny shorts and a revealing strapless shirt. My mouth watered when I saw her.

I kissed her lips. "Things went well."

Sarah pulled up a seat. "Yeah, but Chris showed up."

Rachel's eyes grew large. "Oh my. What happened?"

Sarah smiled. "I kicked him out! Oh! And Jake punched him."

Rachel's eyes glowed. "Good for you girl! Good for you!" She hugged her and then turned to me. "I'm glad that someone knocked that jerk out."

I just nodded. As we were sitting down to have lunch, I heard my front door burst open.

"Jacob? Jacob!" Her voice reverberated through my entire first floor. Toni came storming around the corner, talking before she even came in the room. "You fucking jerk! You ruined my date again! I'm going to kill you!" She came into the kitchen and saw Sarah, Rachel and I staring at her. She froze. "W-what's going on?"

I smiled cheerily. "Hey Toni. Good afternoon. Long night?"

"Toni?" Rachel looked at her little sister, questions burning in her eyes.

"Rach?" Toni walked towards her with similar questions burning in her eyes, and gave her a hug. "When'd you get back?"

"This morning. What are you doing here?"

"Hold on...what's _she_ doing here?" Toni nodded towards Sarah. There wasn't an accusation or irritation in her voice. She seemed honestly confused.

Sarah smiled, "Hi, Toni. It's a long story."

"I'd bet it is."

Rachel turned Toni's face until she was looking at her. "You said Jake ruined your date. What are you talking about?"

Toni's eyes grew large as she looked around the room. "I...umm...I-I!"

I burst out laughing. Everyone looked at me, confused. "Sorry, T. But you've got to admit that this is funny."

My sudden laughter made her forget her discomfort and remember her anger at me. She marched over towards me and punched me in the chest twice. "You jerk! He was a good guy and you got in my head about it again. I'm going to beat you senseless."

She continued wailing on my chest and I pretended to fall back in pain. "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry." I think my apology was weakened by the fact that I wouldn't stop laughing.

Rachel was still confused. "Wait, I don't get it. How did Jake ruin your date?"

Toni turned to her sister, "He just got in my head. _Again!_ I ended up acting like a complete fool. _Again!_ Ugh! Anyway, forget about that! What brings you back home, huh?"

Rachel blushed. "N-nothing."

Toni smirked as she could smell the blood in the water. "Yeah, I bet I know. You missed your hubby and came back for a little weekend loving, right?" Rachel didn't deny it, much to Toni's amusement. "Ah! That's my girl. So tell me, how was it? Did he rock your world? Are you sore all over? Did he give it to you goooooooood?"

"Toni!" Rachel's face was bright red and she couldn't hold anyone's stare. Toni laughed in response.

Fortunately, Sarah stepped in to protect Rachel. "Come on, Toni. Don't tease her."

Looking at Sarah as if she had forgotten that she was even there, Toni saw the marks on her neck. Now all traces of levity fled as she rushed over towards Sarah. "What the hell happened to you? Your neck...what happened?"

Sarah sighed, "It's a long story." Sarah explained everything that happened since Thursday night.

Toni was livid but what could she do? "So that's it?"

"That's it."

"So you're like living here now?"

Sarah laughed, "Oh goodness, no. Just staying the weekend. But when we were headed back over here, I was thinking that maybe I'll get a better place. I make more in my job now and now that I don't need to support Chris, I can afford a much better place."

Toni was excited. "Oh! That sounds great! I have an idea, tomorrow you and I are going to go apartment hunting! I can picture it now! It's going to be so sick!"

"Sick?" Sarah looked frightened, "Are you sure?"

Toni nodded. "Yeah. Besides, you don't want to be stuck with these two lovebirds all day. Trust me. We'll make a day out of it. I'll come over bright and early and we'll go out!"

Sarah looked at me and I was reminded of the day that Toni recruited her to go shopping for party supplies. "Is that a promise or a threat."

I smiled, "Both. Good luck."

True to her word, Toni came over super early on Sunday and absconded with our houseguest. This left Rachel and I alone and off to our lazy Sunday together. We didn't leave the house. Hell, we barely left our bedroom. We spent the morning in bed talking.

"So how's the new position?"

She rested her head against my chest. I felt her hand move down to the waist of my pajama bottoms as she slowly rubbed and massaged my quickly hardening cock. Her voice was nonchalant, as if she wasn't doing what we both knew she was doing. "Oh, it's going okay. I suspect it'll be better now that I fired the three co-conspirators on Friday."

I was only partially surprised. "Yeah? So you let them go, huh?"

She nodded, "The left me with no choice. I wanted things to change for the better but they were actively working against me. So, I fired them."

"That had to be tough babe."

"Yeah, it was. How about you? How're things?"

She pulled my cock from my pants as her head disappeared beneath the covers. Other than the decidedly Rachel-shaped bump in the covers, all I could think about was how sexy the covers looked with her head bobbing up and down. I was putty in her hands. I couldn't even speak.

"Mmmm! Oh my! Ohhhhh!"

I heard her chuckle from beneath the covers. She knew what she was doing and it was having an astounding effect upon me. My mental faculties were reduced to zero. I only wanted what my primal thirst was screaming for—Rachel. And I wanted her bad.

She pushed herself up to her knees, while still beneath the covers. I saw, what I could only assume was her bottom, waving in the air but when she bottomed out on my cock I threw my head back into the covers with a loud moan of appreciation. By the time I looked back up, I saw Rachel's hand fly from beneath the covers as she tossed something small and fabric across the room. Once it hit the ground, I saw that it was her panties.

Climbing on top of me, she poked her head out of the covers and kissed my lips.

"Are you ready for me, hubby?"

I kissed her back. "Always, baby. Always."

With slow and practiced care, she lined me up against her opening. As I felt each delicate sensation course through me as my tip slowly and achingly was enveloped by her snatch, she placed her head on my chest and shook as she continued to take me into her depths.

"I love your dick. I really _really_ love it. It's the best." She pushed herself up as she rode me in slow and wide circles. "It's the fucking best!"

My hands were underneath her nightie. I was pulling and massaging her sensitive breasts. From my vantage, I could see my large dark hands against her pale skin. Her long brown hair fell down her back has her head was tilted back. Her eyes were shut tightly and her mouth hanged open as she breathed in deeply and exhaled loudly, "Hah! Hah!"

Soon, I was moving with her as we both climbed the peak we were destined to reach in our morning lovemaking.

As we climbed higher and higher, she fell on top of me. Her lips were on my neck as she nibbled and kissed her way up to my earlobe. I held her hips as I slammed into her from underneath.

She continued to moan and exhale. "Ugh! Hah! Ugh! Hah!" She started biting my ear. She whispered, "I'm so close! So close! Do it, babe! Please, do it!"

I knew what she wanted. When it came to sex, I was well versed on her cravings. Reaching down further, I was able to spread her cheeks just enough to fit a single digit in her bottom but it was enough.

She thrashed her head to the side and sighed, "Yes! Yes! Cum with me, baby. Please, c-c-cum! Ohhhhhhhh!"

Her anus squeezed down on my finger as her pussy did the same to my cock. Her teeth found the meatiest part of my shoulder and she bit down hard enough to leave a solid mark. It pushed me over the edge.

Our mutual explosion rocked the entire house. It wasn't loud. We didn't scream at the top of our lungs. Nevertheless, there was an energy in the release that I knew could be felt past these walls all the way into the basement.

When we were spent, I held her in my arms and kissed her repeatedly.

"I love you so much, Rachel."

"Mmmm. I love you, too. I'm sorry it has to be like this but it won't be forever."

I squeezed her gently, "Lets not talk about that right now. I'm just glad you're here."

"Kay." I felt her smile as her body relaxed on top of mine. It was nice. It was serene. It was everything that we should've been when we had the chance. Rachel was leaving in a few short hours and at best I wouldn't see her for another couple of weeks.

If I'm being honest, I didn't feel like a husband. I felt like a long distance boyfriend. When we were apart there was this nervous energy and time spent wondering if what you were doing was really the best thing for you. But when we were together all the slights and all the problems could be forgiven and forgotten. All I wanted was her.

It wasn't the best way to maintain a strong marriage...at least, not for me.

Rachel and I had time for one more romp before Toni and Sarah got back. Of course we took advantage and as a result, we almost got caught.

I was taking Rachel, bareback, over the kitchen island when I heard the front door open.

Toni said, "I don't know. I really think the first place was the way to go."

Sarah responded, "It was big and everything but there was no place to park my car."

"True. True."

Rachel and I scrambled to pull up our pants and/or pull down our skirt. By the time the two women rounded the corner, we were out of breath, discombobulated, and pretending to be in the middle of a serious discussion about magazines and their placement on kitchen islands.

Toni saw us and smiled, "Hey you two. How was your time alone?" She winked and Rachel blushed. Toni giggled.

"Does anybody want a water?" I headed to the fridge and pulled out a few bottles of water and handed one to each woman. I stood behind Rachel and bent over to kiss her neck.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Mmmm." I was still throbbing-ly hard and she could feel it through the thin material of her skirt. As Toni and Sarah stood across from us, she pressed her ass back into my crotch and moved from side to side. At least I knew that I wasn't the only one still needing a bit of release.

Trying not to be too obvious, I smiled at Sarah. "So, how did it go?"

She sat down, oblivious to what was going on in front of her. "It went well. I think I found a place. I'm going to meet with the apartment manager about it tomorrow."

"Is it nice?" Rachel's voice was smooth and without a trace of sexual angst.

Toni glanced at Rachel then me. She knew something was going on but just couldn't put her finger on it. "I think it's nice. She saw this huuuggggeeee place earlier but decided not to go for it. The place that she likes is smaller but not too small. It's a two bedroom. It's on the second floor. It's gated, of course. And the amenities...forget about it! It's crazy!" Toni continued to tell us all about Sarah's prospective apartment, without giving her the chance to get a word in edgewise. That's Toni for you.

"Well, anyway, we just came to get some of her stuff. We're going to go grab some lunch. What time are you leaving, sis?"

Rachel glanced at the clock, "I have to be at the airport in 2 hours."

"Oh! That's not a lot of time."

"No. It isn't." Throughout the entire exchange, Rachel didn't stop moving her hips, rubbing her ass against me.

Toni moved around the island. "Well, let me get a hug at least. Who knows when I'm going to see you next."

I backed up to give the two sisters room. As Toni approached, Rachel wrapped both of her slender arms around her younger sister, holding her tight as if for dear life. Toni wrapped one arm around her sister and squeezed hard, with the other arm, her hand went quickly to my junk and squeezed. I flinched. So she had known what was going on. When I looked at her, she wasn't watching me, but there was a smug smirk on her face. I looked over at Sarah. She was watching the embrace and that was all.

I sighed, grateful that she hadn't noticed Toni's vulgar move.

They left shortly thereafter, which left Rachel and I time to finish what we had started. Only this time, we continued in the shower. Ah! What a wet and fun time that was!

After kissing Rachel goodbye in the terminal, I headed back home. Sarah and Toni were still gone so I had the house all to myself. After the excitement from the last few days, it was nice to have a little quiet time. I even had time to finish some of the work I brought home.

It was nighttime by the time Sarah and Toni showed back up. I was just getting out of the shower after an evening workout.

"Hey, bro! Have you eaten? We brought you dinner."

I took the bag from her and put it up to my nose. "Mmmm. Thai food?"

She nodded, "Yep!"

While I ate, they continued whatever conversation they were having without me. Apparently, Sarah would need to break her lease to get out of her apartment but she was fine with that. She didn't feel comfortable living in a place that she shared with Chris and she didn't want him to know where she was moving to. They had already gone to the phone store and gotten her a new phone and transferred her service to a new number. All that was left was to see the judge about the temporary restraining order and get the keys to her new place.

"You're going to help her move, right?" Toni was watching me with this odd look on her face.

"Do I have to?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes! You're her boss. You should help ensure your employees' happiness!"

I laughed. "Sure. No problem. Just give me the details."

Sarah leaned forward, "Umm, no. That's okay. I mean, I appreciate it and everything but I'm just going to hire movers. You've done more for me than anyone. I can't ask you to help me move too."

Toni looked at her with her eyebrows raised, "Movers?" It was like she was learning a whole knew language. "Really? I made him help me move into both of my apartments."

I groaned, "Don't remind me." I rubbed my back. Just thinking about those excursions made me cringe.

Sarah laughed. "You're family. I'm nobody. I can't just ask him to do that."

Suddenly, I reached across the table and grabbed hold of her hand. She gasped and looked at me. There was no trace of levity in my voice or on my countenance. " _Never_ say that again! You're not 'nobody'. You're Sarah and you're one hell of a decent person. Never forget that."

Her eyes grew thoughtful and then she smiled. Squeezing my hand back, she nodded. "Of course. You're right. Thank you."

I held her stare for a moment before Toni reached forward and put her hand on top of mine. I felt her fingers pulling at my fingers, which we wrapped around Sarah's hand. I let her go and sat back in my chair.

"Okay! Now that that is settled, I say that you and I go shopping for a new wardrobe."

Sarah blinked, "Excuse me?"

Rolling her eyes, Toni exclaimed, "Come on, girl! You're not with that controlling prick anymore. It's time to let the lioness out of the cave! You're one hot piece of tail. Lets go find you some meat!"

Sarah's face darkened as she looked down at her feet. "I-I-I...umm...no. I'm fine. Thank you. I don't need meat. I mean...I'm not hungry. No...umm..." She looked at me, pleading and said, "Help."

I laughed. "Toni, just take it one day at a time. Okay? She's gone through a lot. Let her find her own way at her own pace."

Toni growled, "Ugh! Fine. But that's so boring!"

I laughed. "I think it's perfect. Besides, considering how you messed up _two_ dates in a row, I don't think you should be her role model in the dating sphere."

She slapped the table with her hand. "Hey! I only fucked those up because _you_ got in my head with all that talk about you and...!"

I smirked as she bit her lip. I could see how frustrated she was and it delighted me.

Sarah looked at her, "I don't understand. What did he do again?"

"N-nothing. Forget it."

"Umm...o-okay. I guess."

The day was rapidly coming to a close. I still had some work I wanted to get done so I excused myself.

It was after 10, before I headed off to bed. As I was passing the guest bedroom, I saw Sarah and Toni sitting on the bed, both in the pajamas. Sarah was wearing a loose-fitting pair of long pajama pants and a faded blue t-shirt. From the way she moved, it was obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra. I tried not to think about the way her naked breasts would look. I tried...but I failed.

Toni was wearing a pair of tiny shorts that hardly covered her round behind. Her tanned cheeks were glistening in the candlelight cast by the small candle on the entertainment center. She wore a revealing spaghetti strap shirt with a large heart in the middle on a field of white that was damn near see-through. They were sitting on the bed chatting. Sarah was combing her wet hair, while Toni was bent over, painting her toenails.

I stopped by the door. "Umm, what's going on?"

Sarah looked at me and smiled. Her hazel eyes dancing in the candlelight's fire. "Hey, Jake!"

Toni smiled, "Sleep over!"

I leaned against the door. "Ah."

Toni closed the nail polish that she was using and waddled towards me on her heels. "Sorry, wet nails."

I nodded. "You're both, staying over?"

Toni nodded loudly, "Of course." Then, brining her voice down to a whisper, she leaned close so only I could hear. "Rachel's gone, which means your hall pass is in full effect. You didn't really think I was going to leave you here alone with her did you? Psht! Foolish man!" She laughed and then turned away and waddled back to her starting point.

Knowing I was fighting a losing battle, I waved them goodnight and headed off to bed. I half expected Toni to show up in the middle of the night, but the sun came up and I remained un-defiled.

The three of us drove into work together. We ate together and we left together. Other than Sarah leaving in the middle of the day to attend her court hearing and to close on her new apartment, we spent most of the day together.

After dropping the girls off at home, I ran over to Amara's office for my appointment.

"So, how are things going Jake?" Once again, the goddess known as Amara was captivating in her formfitting skirt and low hanging blouse.

"Things are going well. Rachel flew back home last weekend for a little visit."

"That's great. How did things go?"

"About as you'd expect. We had some time to rekindle things."

"Have you made any progress on opening up and not holding things back?"

"I'd say so. Although, if I'm being honest, I think that part of the reason she came home was because of me exploding on her last week."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I called her after I left here and apologized. I explained that I had been holding things back."

"How did she respond?"

"Well, she said that she didn't realize how hurt I really was and that she knows what she's doing is selfish. I think she really wants to make things work but just doesn't know how to go about it."

"Well, I think that you're both doing the necessary initial steps. You're healing. While it is true that you're healing individually, you're still healing. That's important. But it is also important that you both don't heal so far apart that you end up moving in opposite directions."

It was obvious what she was referring to. I was here and I was being promiscuous. Rachel was there and she was...well, I didn't really know. Did I think that she was seeing other people—no. Would I have the right to be mad if she was—no.

I started thinking about all the things I've been feeling since I found out about the affair. Maybe I should've called it and not suggested therapy. Maybe I was just prolonging the suffering. Maybe I was wrong.

For the rest of the week, things were mostly drama free. Toni and Sarah became inseparable. Some nights I had the house to myself while Sarah slept over at Toni's. Other nights they stayed with me. The judge granted the temporary restraining order. Sarah canceled her lease and got the keys to her new apartment. The movers came to take her stuff on Friday.

Saturday morning, I got a call from Sarah.

Her sweet twang-y voice filled the phone, "Oh, hey Jake. I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Sure. What's up?"

"I, umm, left a couple of my suitcases at your place. Do you think you could run them over for me, please?"

"Sure. That's no problem. I was just tooling around the house anyway. Text me your address and I'll see you shortly."

"Thanks, Jake. You're a Godsend."

She sent me the address and surprisingly, her place was only about 5 minutes away. The apartment complex was in a very nice and safe area. Pulling up to the wide wrought iron gates, it gave off a presidential vibe. Within the complex, there were several midcentury apartment buildings. They were in pristine shape. I parked in the visitor's section and walked up to her building. I buzzed her and her small voice came through the intercom.

"Come on in!"

I carried the suitcases to the second floor and was greeted by a pretty smile and a smattering of open boxes. She whisked me into her apartment and closed the door right behind me.

"Thank you so much. With this, I now have everything."

I looked around. "Seriously? You've unpacked all of this already?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I don't like moving and I really dislike having a bunch of boxes around." She took the suitcases into the back of the apartment and called over her shoulder, "There's beer in the fridge if you'd like."

"Thanks." I went to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of beer, and then looked around the living area. It was nice. There was an open floor plan so when you were in the modern kitchen you could look out and see the living room. The only thing that separated them was a breakfast bar. There was about thirty or so boxes of different shapes and sizes. I decided to break them down while she was whisking away the final items from her suitcases.

By the time I was finished, and sat the last of the cardboard on a neat pile by the door, she came out of the back of the apartment.

When she saw what I had done she smiled, "Holy Moses! You didn't have to do all of this."

I smiled, "No problem."

"Thanks!" She stood on her toes and kissed my cheek.

I laughed as I relished her soft lips on my face, "Consider it payment in full."

She smiled. "Hey. You wouldn't mind taking those boxes down to the recycling bin out back, would you? I was thinking I would take a quick shower. All this unpacking has me feeling icky."

"No. I don't mind."

While I took the 5 trips necessary to get the boxes in the recycling bin, she washed up in her new bathroom. I was finished and sitting on the couch, nursing my beer when she came out.

I heard her approach, "How was your shower?"

"It was nice."

I turned and looked at her and my heart caught in my throat. Sarah was dressed (and I use that word lightly) in a tiny cut off t-shirt and a seductive pair of red tanga panties with a purple infused floral embroidering at the top. She had a beer in one hand and a phone in the other as she sat on the couch opposite me with one leg pulled up to her chest.

In case you're wondering...yes, I could see _everything_!

She drank from her bottle as she looked out of the window, seemingly oblivious to the way she was dress or how it was affecting me.

I could hardly tear my eyes away from her, and when I did it was only for a moment because my eyes came crawling back to the exposed flesh on this incredibly attractive and beautiful woman.

The room was quiet. I had to think of something to say. Come on! Think! Think! Ah! "Umm, where's Toni?" Shit! Where's Toni? Really? You idiot!

Sarah smiled, "She said that unpacking wasn't really her thing. I think she went out to catch a movie with some girlfriends."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

She turned her head and caught me staring. She didn't rebuke me. She simply smiled and went back to her beer and staring out of the window. After a couple of minutes, she spoke.

"I think it's interesting that you'd ask about Toni?"

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"Well, you guys are so close. Ya know?"

"Y-yeah. I guess. I mean we're family right?"

"Hmm. Family." She tilted her head onto her shoulder and glanced at me. There was something innocent in that expression but for some reason I sensed something deeply sinister was on the horizon. The cold chill down my spine was just icing on the cake.

She continued, "Family is important. They're there for you when you fall and they pick you up. They help you mend your wounds. They'll even be there when no one else is."

She moved over to where I was sitting. I moved over so she could sit next to me.

As she sat on the back of the couch, she rested her legs over my thighs. I felt her foot rubbing my arm as she smiled. "Family is such a precious thing. Sometimes we don't know how precious it is until we lose it."

"S-Sarah? What's going on?" This was not the Sarah I was used to. In the month that I've known her, I've only seen this side of her twice. When she spied on me through the doors.

She kept rocking her foot back and forth as she twirled the bottle of beer by the mouth. Smiling, she sat the beer on the floor and held up her phone. "At times, the bonds of family can be as thin as rice paper, don't you think? Like, take for example infidelity. It can shatter the bonds between even the closest of family members."

"Where is this all going, Sarah?"

She sat forward until her face was less than a foot away from mine. She smelled of flowers basking in the sunlight. "There's something I want to show you." She turned on her phone. I only noticed it was her old phone in passing. I wasn't sure what she was going to show me but I had a feeling that it was important.

She handed me her phone after pulling something up on the screen. Leaning back against the couch, she picked up her beer and took a sip. "Press play."

As ordered, I pressed the play button as I felt her eyes watching me. The phone was dark. However, I knew that I was watching a recording of something at night, as the shadows on the screen were moving. The video was bouncing as the shot moved up the stairs and down a long hallway. Even in the gloom, I would know that hallway anywhere. It was my hallway.

I looked at Sarah in a panic. "What's this?"

She was as cool as a cucumber. "Just keep watching."

I watched her for a few more seconds. That 'good girl' that I told everyone that she was, was nowhere in sight. Watching the video, I could hear Sarah's breath coming through the recording. Her breath was low but heavy. It sounded like she was excited. As she moved closer to my bedroom, I heard another sound that was even more urgent than Sarah's heavy breathing.

"Ah! Yes! Oooooooo!" Her voice was high pitched and passionate.

"Fuck! You feel amazing!" My voice was gruff but just as passionate.

Through a small crack in my door, the video gleamed a scene that froze my blood. Toni was bent over on my bed, I had a handful of her hair. As I pulled back she screamed, "Yes! Yes! This is what I want. I want that dick in me. Give it to me! Give it to me!" I was fucking her hard and she was loving it. I saw this excitedly sadistic smile come to my face as I yelled, "Take this dick then! Take it all!" Our bodies were covered in sweat as we freely gave into the pleasures we were feeling. The video started moving and I heard Sarah's breath even more urgently.

She was moaning into the phone, "Mmmm! Oh my God. That's so sexy. That's right. Give it to her. Fuck her up! Mmmm! Ugh! Uh! Ah!"

My hand was shaking. I dropped the phone on the carpet. Neither of us moved to pick it up. Sarah pulled her feet back. I watched as she tilted her head back and gulped the rest of her beer. Discarding the bottle, she leaned closer to me.

Her voice was heavy. Gone was her mousy facade and in its place was a lioness. "So, what did you think?"

The world was spinning. "W-what? When? Why?" I don't know why I asked when. It was obviously during the night of the party but I didn't know why.

She smirked, "After I took Chris home and put him to bed, I realized that I forgot my purse at your house. It was late but I figured you'd still be up. However, when I showed up and all the lights were off, I was worried. I went up to the front door and it was unlocked. I let myself in." She chuckled, the sound of which made the hair on my arms stand. "I wasn't in your house for two seconds before I heard the two of you. Humph! As I'm sure you're aware, considering that you've caught me peeking twice, I...umm...I like to _watch_. This was a rare opportunity. I didn't know who you were with but I had my suspicions. When I made it to your bedroom, lo and behold, you and Toni were going at it, hard. Goodness. I got so excited that I masturbated while watching you two. It was so sexy!" When she said the word 'sexy' she licked her lips hungrily. I felt like my life was shortening by the second and there she was getting immense enjoyment out of it.

"S-so you've known all of this time?"

She nodded. "Like I said, I've had my suspicions."

"So what is your plan? Are you going to blackmail me?"

To my surprise, she laughed. She laughed loudly. She laughed long. When her merriment died down, she shook her head. "Dear Lord, no. I'm not going to blackmail you with that. I mean sure, I could show it to Rachel but that would destroy your marriage and her bond with her sister. I could show it to our bosses at work but that wouldn't get me anything. Besides, I like working for you. You're a great boss."

I couldn't have been more surprised than I was at that moment. If she wasn't planning to blackmail me then why show me the video? "What are you going to do then?"

She rested her head on the back of the couch again. She watched me with mirth dancing in her scandalous eyes. "I need you to understand, I took that video for me. I was never planning on showing that video to you or anyone else. It was just something I planned to use on a stray lonely night. It was just going to be my little secret—my little sin. Especially after what you did for me, in regards to Chris and letting me stay at your place. I'm not planning to use this video to threaten or hurt you in anyway. You have my word on that."

"So what then? You just wanted me to know that you found out about us?"

"Yes and no. See, I have a little confession to make. I've got a little bit of a crush on you. It was harmless at first. You're attractive. You're successful. You're kind. You're strong. You're smart. You're all the things that Chris wasn't. When I first started working for you I was pumped. I reveled in the chance to work so closely to you. I mean sure, I had to deal with a little light teasing from Toni but that was okay. I could deal with that. But that all changed when I first saw you and Rachel going at it in your office. It was like something inside me cracked. I was tainted by your lust. It pierced straight through me and there was no going back."

She pulled herself up to her knees and leaned closer to me.

"I-I still don't understand what you want."

She took my bottle of beer from my hand and sat it on the floor. When she looked at me there was a hint of doubt in her eyes but it was buried so deeply beneath the honest lust in her stare that I wasn't certain I had ever seen it.

"See, it's all very simple. I had this little idea when Rachel was here. It was pretty obvious that Toni and I walked in on you guys getting a little...personal. When Toni walked over to give Rachel a hug and I saw her hand grab you, I had an epiphany. I thought, Ah! If I want a chance to change then I should try to be a bit more like her. Reckless. Bold. Brave. She's so brave and outgoing that I figured I should try it once too. So here I am. A new apartment. A new lease on life. And you." She climbed on top of my lap. As she did, she rubbed her huge breasts against my chest, as she placed her arms on my shoulders, interlocking her hands behind my head. I was trapped.

"U-umm, Sarah. What are you doing?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Upon opening them, they didn't waver an inch. "I'm being brave. You know, I've only been with Chris and he didn't deserve me. I'm not going to force you. If you want to leave then you can leave. We'll both go to work on Monday and it'll be like it was before. Promise. But if you stay then know that I'm not looking for a fling but I'm also not looking for something permanent. Right now, I just want to try. I want to try to change. I want to try to go after what I want and what I want is you. I want to feel your kiss against my lips. I want to feel your tongue over my body. I want to feel your dick pushing inside me so deeply that I scream. When we're finished I want you to still respect me and still call me friend. I want to be able to do this again and again. I want you in anyway that I can have you."

As she spoke, she slowly sank down on me, rubbing her body up and down my body. I could feel her excitement and interest. The air was thick with wanting and all of that wanting, her honest request and her sexy body aroused me.

"So? What do you say? Are you game? Will you give me that big black cock?"

I saw her tongue flick in her mouth as she enunciated the word 'cock' to the point where that that might've been the sexiest word I've ever heard.

Her sexy lips pulled back in a shy, yet seductive smile as she slowly moved her face closer to mine. "Well? Do you want to leave?"

I glanced at her sexy lips and then into her gorgeous eyes. My voice came out in a whisper, "No."

Her smile was bright and sexy. She pressed forward and said, "Yes!"

Her lips touched mine and all bets were off. All control that I felt melted away in her embrace. I held her close as I tasted her. She held me tight as if she was afraid I would turn into vapors and disappear.

After making out and running my hands all over her body, she pushed herself back and stood up. She reached down towards me, her hand stretching out, "Come with me."

Her voice was haunting. Her eyes were on fire. Her body was enticing. I didn't know what to expect but if I've learned anything about her, it was that what you saw was nothing more than the tip of the iceberg.

I took her hand and stood. She held it tightly, as she led me towards her bedroom.

The air was heavy with excitement as we walked down the short corridor. The door opened to her bedroom and she pulled me in with a smile on her face. "Welcome!"

I fell into her embrace and sexual Nirvana with both eyes open.

End

Thank you for your continued support! I hope you're enjoying the Tainted Series and my other stories.

I hope you look forward to part 5, A Gentleman's Indiscretion.

~ _T.L._ ~

The Author's Two Cents:

This story portrayed a character that was the victim of domestic abuse. This wasn't to make light of domestic abuse but to simply shed a light on it. In the story, the victim, Sarah, was fortunate enough to have the support of her friends but that's not always the case. Whether the abuse is directed towards a woman or a man, it is NEVER okay. Too many people are affected by domestic abuse, in all of its forms, go without support until it is too late. If you know someone who is, or if you yourself are a victim of domestic violence, please know that you're not alone. There are people and organizations that can help. If you live within the United States, there is a national domestic violence hotline (Ph: 1-800-799-7233). There is also a website: www.thehotline.org.

Call or go on their website to get help. You're not alone.

~T.L.~

***Check out my very first, full length novel— _Hearts that Bleed_! Available @ Smashwords, Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo!***

_Hearts that Bleed_ is a contemporary romantic novel. Written in three perspectives, the story closely follows the lives of two main characters, Michael and Lana. The multiple perspectives give the reader a chance to deeply explore the hard road leading to change for the two characters.

Download the first chapter, free from any of the sites mentioned above. Reviews can be found on Goodreads.

