A Stumbling Marriage Pt. 02

The next morning Andrew went to work, still with questions at the back of his mind. He knew he was in competition with Jordan and that he would have to keep his cool or he would lose out to him. Andrew decided to focus on his work, any questions would have to wait until later.

Jordan could see Andrew, and he knew that he was unhappy at him. He thought 'how can I put him off his game today?' and realised that Andrew was annoyed about something he had said, but didn't know what it had been that had set him off.

Another analyst, Mark, at the bank then came in and sat beside Jordan. He noticed the tension between Jordan and Andrew the day beforehand and was wondering how this was going to play out today. Mark realised that Andrew was very jealous and wondered if Jordan had fucked his wife over the weekend. Mark had actually met Shona on a couple of occasions and whenever he tried to flirt with her, she had just turned him down.

Mark decided to probe, to find out who Jordan had fucked at the weekend. This was a slight problem as Jordan was very quick to brag about his weekend successes, he was too much of a gentleman to name the woman, particularly if she was married, unless her husband had really got under his skin.

Mark started lightly chatting about the weekend with both Andrew and Jordan and quickly realised that Andrew had been away and Jordan had been out clubbing. This drew Mark in, since now he knew that there was a chance that Shona had met Jordan. Mark then asked Jordan "So how did Shona move?"

This surprised Jordan and he thought that Mark was talking about dancing. He replied "Well she can certainly move, and she loves getting up close and personal."

This caught Andrew, who was involved in the conversation. His doubts came back and he was questioning whether or not Shona had cheated on him. He tried to joke it off by saying "Shona does love the idea of look but don't touch." Although he was getting more heated, you could see the anger rising in his face.

Mark said "come on spill the beans, what happened?" to Jordan.

Jordan spotting where this was going, thinking I could tell the truth or I could just wind up Andrew a bit more. Jordan decided to go down the latter route and said "You know me, as a gentleman, I never discuss specifics about ladies, particularly if they are married." with a wink.

Andrew jerked up at this comment and stormed out of the room. He knew that if he stayed there, then he lose his temper and possibly lose his job. He grabbed his phone and started calling Shona. He needed to know had she cheated with his work rival. The phone started ringing and was just about to go to voicemail, when Shona answered.

Shona was surprised that Andrew was calling her from work, as work had a very strict no private calls during the day policy. She answered and said "Hello daring, is everything alright."

Andrew just exploded down the phone screaming "you fucking slut, you cheating slag, why did you have to fuck him?"

Shona nearly dropped the phone as she heard this screaming, instead, she held on to the phone, waited until Andrew had stopped screaming. Then the phone went silent. Shona checked that the Andrew had not hung up, but he was still on the line. Shona knew she had to reply. Shona started "Andrew don't shout, do you want to talk about this tonight or are you just going to scream?"

Andrew realising what he had done and thought he better calm down a little and started "I want to know what happened between you and Jordan, did you fuck him?"

Shona thinking how much Andrew hated Jordan, replied "As I said to you yesterday, I didn't sleep with Jordan, I went out with Amy and Katie and was here on Saturday morning with Katie stopping over."

"You know that because you spoke to her and she told you." This statement caused Shona a problem because neither Shona nor Katie can remember how they got home on Friday night. To save each other blushes they decided that nothing had happened.

"Jordan is fucking with you, you know I love you too much to sleep with someone else, particularly that arrogant prick."

Andrew was still thinking there was something going on. He trusted Shona and yet his jealousy, particularly when he thinks about Jordan, always leaves him doubting.

Andrew said, "So how did he know about the dress?"

Shona had thought about that and replied "Perhaps he had seen me on Friday night and seen what had happened to the dress, and decided to goad you with it. Why don't you ask him what happened with the dress?"

Andrew was irritated by this suggestion that he went to his enemy and ask about his wife said "Don't worry, I'm sure there is a good reason for the damage. I will catch up with tonight, we can talk more then."

Shona phoned Katie, to see if she could remember any more about Friday night, but she remembered even less than Shona. Katie came over to see if she could help. They phoned Amy to see if she remembered what had happened. Amy wasn't answering her phone.

Shona knew she needed to find out what had happened on Friday night. She knew that Andrew kept his contacts on his computer at home, so quickly logged on and found Jordan's number. She knew she had to take a chance, so she texted Jordan - "Jordan this is Shona, Andrew's wife, we need to talk about last Friday."

Shona had her finger over the send button, knowing that Jordan could just use this to annoy Andrew some more, however, Shona knew that she needed to know. Shona pressed send.

Shona opened a bottle of wine to share with Katie as they went over the weekend but the alcohol didn't help them clear their minds. They tried Amy again, but still there was not answer, just a text saying that she was busy and would phone Shona later. They both knew that when Amy got a new bloke, her mates tended to be ignored until the tears started.

An hour later another text arrived for Shona, it was from Jordan. He said - "meet me at The Crystal Palace at 6 tonight." Shona turned to Katie and said, "Shit, I've got a meeting but Andrew will expect me home then."

Katie said "Tell Andrew you have to go into town to sort out the dry cleaning for your dress. I will wait here and I will try and persuade him about Friday. Remember it's important for me as well that we stick to that story."

Shona said "Yes you are right" Then dressing down, Shona hoped would send a signal that she was not interested in Jordan, no matter what had happened at the weekend, she set off for the pub.

Shona went to a dry cleaners in Elizabeth Street, which had a reputation for being able to return clothing to pristine condition and dropped off her dress. She then made her way into town.

Jordan was already in and had a couple of drinks in front of himself. For himself he had a Mojito and for Shona he had a Virgin Bloody Mary, he gave her the drink and told her what it was. Jordan said that he thought that Shona wouldn't want booze for a while.

Shona said "So what happened?"

Jordan said "You look beautiful when you are angry, and those cloths look stunning on you."

Shona replied "Fuck off, tell me what happened?"

Jordan smiled and said "tut tut, beautiful ladies should not use language like that."

Shona getting pissed off at Jordan's attitude "Well if you are not going to tell me, I just wasted an afternoon, I'm off, but I will remember what an arsehole you are."

Jordan held up his hands and said "Whoa, okay, it's in two parts and I will tell you the second first."

Shona said "get on with it."

Jordan continued "Andrew is so easy to wind up and goad, and I love showing him and everyone at work who is the best, me."

"He also does not seem to really trust you, he definitely doesn't trust me, well he knows how successful I am with woman, so I can understand, I can give some references if you want."

Shona interrupted "give your ego a rest sometimes please."

"Andrew needed to be reminded who was top dog and he let that happen this week. That is why I have been goading him."

Shona injects "You are a bastard you know."

Jordan continues "Sometimes, I do like winning, but fairly. Now if we come to Friday night, you were out with your friends having a drink and I noticed you across the bar. A couple of men were trying to pull you and a couple of your friends, I don't know their names, and one of your mates went off with one for their mates. These guys were married but had no rings on. They were trying all the moves and you and your mate were pushing them back. When they went to the bar to get a drink, they mentioned adding something to your drink. I couldn't do anything at the bar but just watch them.

"When I saw they had made their move, I decided to interrupt them, so I walked up to you, and you did seem a bit spaced out and poured a pint over you. I then insisted on getting you and your mate a taxi home, made sure you got home and left, in the taxi we travelled in, and found someone to comfort the brave hero."

"End of story, except where I just wound up Andrew, but he deserves it."

Shona was shocked, firstly at how close she had come to something nasty happening to her and secondly, she was looking at Jordan in a different light. He wasn't a complete bastard.

Shona said "so why didn't you tell Andrew what had happened? Why did you goad him so much?" Although Shona knew that the reason Jordan wound up Andrew so much was just part of the competitive games they play with each other.

Jordan said "would you like me to tell him the truth? That I helped protect his damsel in distress, because he wasn't there to do it?"

Shona replied "just stop goading him, hopefully, I can find another way of telling him the truth."

Jordan said "okay, by the way how much do I owe you for the dress?"

Shona laughed at this gallantry, and said "£500 for a new dress." Although she was getting it dry cleaned for £30, the thought of getting one over on Jordan did lighten her mood.

Jordan said "No problem, here is the cash?" laying out £500 in front of her. Shona was startled that Jordan carried so much cash with him, but then remembered how well paid Andrew was and thought that Jordan would be at least as well paid.

Next day at work, Jordan decided to not wind up Andrew and just concentrate on making the bank lots of money. Andrew was happy not to have to deal with Jordan's wind ups and when Mark tried to bring a little tension to the work place, Jordan said "Leave it out, we are here to make lots of money."

At the end the of the day, their manager called the whole team into the office and said that they were a little tense and therefore everyone had to attend a party on Saturday, partners were invited.

At Shona and Andrew's home, the atmosphere was strained for the rest of the week. Andrew then mentioned the party and said that partners were welcome. He had hoped that Shona would not want to go in case she bumped into Jordan. Shona thought about it, but also thought that if she didn't go, it would send a message about her faithfulness.

Shona said "Let's join the party for an hour or so and then go clubbing."

Andrew loved this idea because he would take Shona in to display to people at work and would leave with her as a trophy on his arm.

They both dressed for a night on the town, they had decided that they would only attend the party for a short while and then head out to go clubbing for the rest of the night.

The party was held at the Reform Club in town and soon, Shona and Andrew were dancing away. Andrew went up to get a drink and when he was at the bar he noticed Jordan arrive with a beautiful escort. This eased his mind slightly.

Jordan had decided that he would use the party to show off his talent for attracting beautiful women and also to bury the hatchet with Andrew. Seeing Andrew taking his drinks across to Shona, he moved to join them. Then he started. "Andrew I owe you an apology, I wound you up about Shona and I shouldn't have done." Having a beautiful woman on his arm eased this speech. "I did see Shona last week, but nothing happened, the last I saw of her, was her getting into a taxi with one of her mates." "I'm sorry." Offering his hand.

When Jordan had finished, Andrew, took his hand and, replied, with a smile "You are a bastard, I will fucking get you for that." Andrew could now see that his jealousy had gotten the better of him.

Andrew and Shona stayed for another drink, while Andrew and Jordan were at the bar, Shona started talking to Mary, who was Jordan's escort for the night, and she was probing about their relationship. Shona had started to look at Jordan in a different light.

Mary said that she occasionally went out with Jordan but wasn't his girlfriend, Jordan didn't do girlfriends, just friends with benefits. Shona was interested how that worked, as she could not see the point of sex without the relationship, which was what she loved. Mary then suggested that she didn't mind because Jordan was so good in bed, in fact, Mary had broken up with a guy who wanted to marry her, because she couldn't cheat on him but loved Jordan in bed too much. Shona thought I'm so happy with Andrew, he is everything I want.

Andrew was still a little annoyed about Jordan and decided to start flirting with Mary. Shona was incredulous at this, after how Andrew had behaved and now this. Jordan just watched on, knowing that there was no way that Mary would fuck Andrew but he could see Shona's reaction. Jordan knew he still wanted to fuck Shona and wondered if he would get the chance. As far as Jordan was concerned fucking Andrew's wife was far better than just fucking Jordan's friend with benefit and he thought that Andrew might think that Shona would always stay loyal.

Andrew got up and asked Mary to dance, Jordan then asked Shona, so all four went to the dancefloor together. As Andrew started getting touchy-feely, Jordan could see Shona getting more pissed off. Jordan just whispered into Shona's ear, "You have my number if you ever want to chat." This startled Shona and she reached over to Andrew and said "When are we going to the club."

Andrew said to Jordan and Mary "we are going clubbing, want to join us?" Hoping that Mary would be coming along.

Jordan said, "No we have other plans for this evening." Winking at Mary.

Shona was now furious about how Andrew had acted. A time bomb was ticking in her head.