Already Gone

Shannon herself was in a similar although less legal position. She'd been supporting CJ since they'd met while he'd had a series of flings with women who came into the bar he worked part time in. He was apparently looking for his perfect BBB or big boobed blond and had found Anne and thought his dreams were complete.

Besides the physical aspects that I had paid for, Anne seemed to arouse his mother complex as well.

Shannon had been paying a private eye to get as much info on CJ as she could. I spoke to her agent a woman named Sarah Pryce several times and then took over paying for her services. It was actually a no-brainer. Having the information was of no benefit to Shannon. Sarah, another really pretty redhead had explained it to Shannon several times.

Since Shannon and CJ weren't married, the information meant nothing to her. CJ could legally walk away from Shannon on a whim with no repercussions. I on the other hand could use Sarah's information and the videos to give me a stronger position in the divorce and mitigate the amount of money I would have to give Anne and her boy toy.

Over the weeks of watching them and planning ourselves, Shannon and I grew closer. One night it all came to a head.

"Shannon, you're way too good for him," I told her. "Why don't you just walk away?"

"Fuck him," she said. "But I can't walk away without settling up. I don't ever let anyone get over on me."

"But isn't it enough that you found out about what he's doing, so he can't really hurt you? You aren't tied to him, so you're not stuck like I am." I asked. "You're young and you're so beautiful. You have time to find someone who will love you the way you deserve."

Her green eyes lit up, even in the confines of my Mustang's dark interior.

"So you finally noticed, Huh?" she asked.

"Noticed what?" I asked.

"Me!" she smirked.

"I noticed you the first moment you stepped into my office," I gushed.

"Bullshit!" she laughed. "You were so in love with Anne that you didn't even notice that I was a girl, let alone that I might have been interested in you." Her laughter as usual had enchanted me. It was one of the things I loved about her the most.

"Why do you think, I'm still here?" she gushed. "I got over CJ and any need for revenge weeks ago. Helping you get your revenge means much more to me than getting back at that asshole. I just hate the thought of you having to support those two cheaters for the rest of their God Damned lives. There has to be a way for us to get out of this, Honey."

She walked right over to me, wrapped her arms around me and kissed me for the first time. I was shocked. But I enjoyed it too much to even consider not returning the kiss.

At forty, and married for twenty years, I thought that I knew how to kiss. But the only thing I knew was the way that Anne kissed. Kissing Shannon was a completely different animal.

The taste was different. The feeling was different. The whole experience was different. I couldn't get enough. I just kept kissing her and kissing her. After a while we forgot that we were supposed to be listening to a recording of our cheating partners so we could figure out how to come out on top.

A voice from behind us finally separated us, but Shannon refused to let go of my hand.

"I thought ... Well ... I hoped that would happen," smiled Sarah. "The two of you are so nice and you're far more suited to each other than you are to the people you're in relationships with. Now that the two of you are together, we can just let the cheaters go. People like that will end up getting what they deserve in the end."

"But what about his divorce ... And our revenge?" asked Shannon. Sarah surprised us then, when she explained a few things about the law.

"The question is do the two of you want to be together enough to do it?" asked Sarah. "Take some time to think about it. It's a big step. I'll send you a bill," she smiled.

The next few weeks told the story. Shannon and I worked on our acting chops. We each told our respective spouses how busy we were at work. And surprisingly they both believed us. Neither of them had any idea that Shannon and I knew each other let alone that we were in a budding relationship of our own.

It gave us the time to spend together and our mutual attraction blossomed into full blown love. One day I called Shannon at work and told her that I was ready to jump. "I want ... I guess I need to spend more time with you," I told her.

"We're together almost every night, silly," she giggled over the phone.

"It's not enough," I said.

"But we haven't even slept together yet," she whispered. That told me that she was working and didn't want anyone there to hear her.

"I'm sure that sex with you will be awesome," I told her.

"You have no idea," she cooed. "But you do know that I don't have huge jugs like your wife, right?"

"Who cares," I said. "What makes sex great is when you love the person you're with and you really want to please them."

That was when she said it. She was almost in tears and her voice broke. It was as if she'd just been waiting to hear me say it.

"I love you too Mark. And I swear I will forever. You can have any part of me, any way you want it, any time you want it. I'm yours," she gushed. I was floored. No one, not even Anne when we were young had so eloquently and vehemently expressed their love for me.

"And no, I've never said anything like that to anyone before you," she said solemnly. "Not even that asshole CJ."

"I wasn't worried about that," I said. "I was just wondering how quickly we can do it. We're going with Sarah's plan."

The phone call this morning was just what we'd been waiting for. The funny thing about it was that I really and truly believe that fate played a hand in getting us together. Over the weeks as we made our plans, we were very careful not to be seen together. But people that we both knew kept coming to each of us and telling us that our significant others were cheating on us. We had to work very hard to pretend that we didn't know.

It was a comedy of errors that bordered on a Shakespearean level. It began to seem like only CJ and Anne had no idea that we knew. And that was because the two cheaters were so sure that they were much smarter than everyone else.

Finally my business trip came up ... Okay it was a pretend business trip, but it worked. And conveniently, Shannon's mother got sick at the same time. Both of us being supposedly out of town lent courage to the cheaters and thus that fateful phone call. Things didn't go as smoothly as we'd hoped. Both Shannon and I had predicted that the phone call would have come on Friday night. That was why I had arranged for the truck to arrive on Sunday morning. I wanted to give the lovebirds a couple of days to enjoy each other before it all blew up.

But Shannon and I savored the moment of victory as I answered the phone. "Mark?" asked the voice of the woman I'd been married to for more than twenty years.

"Who else would answer my phone?" I asked gleefully. Shannon had moved up and wrapped her arms around me, giving me a strength I never thought I had. "Why the hell are YOU calling ME?" I asked.

"I am your wife," she said. "Mark, Honey, I have to tell you something and you're probably not going to like it. I guess the easiest way to do this is to tell you that in the long run this will be good for both of us. It may not seem like it now but ..." I just started laughing.

* * * * * *

Anne

He was laughing. I couldn't believe he was laughing at me. CJ had gone downstairs to find out what was going on with those God Damned trucks. It almost seemed like they were in my front yard. I wished that CJ was there with me then.

"Why the fuck are you laughing?" I asked. "I'm being serious here!"

"Well, I heard some people talkin' just the other day. And they said you were gonna put me on a shelf," he said in that same laughing voice. He really knew how to piss me off. Well he'd be laughing out of the other side of his ass in minute. And that was what all of this was about. This time I had the upper hand.

"But let me tell you I got some news for you," he continued. "And you'll soon find out it's true. Then you'll have to eat your lunch all by yourself."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked.

"I don't think this is your idea at all," he laughed. "I think it's CJ's plan."

Shit, he knew about CJ and me. He'd said he heard some people talking about it. Probably my nosey assed neighbors. I had to try to save things. No, fuck that, I had to go through with it.

"Mark, I'm leaving you," I said. "I want a divorce." I put as much strength in my voice as I could muster. But all he did was laughed even more.

"The letter that you wrote me made me stop and wonder why. But I guess you felt like you had to set things right," he laughed.

His words chilled me to the bone. Was the bastard psychic? No one knew about that God damned letter. Even CJ had no idea that I'd written Mark a letter. The letter was supposed to go along with the divorce papers and it explained my feelings on our marriage and where we went wrong. It also explained in detail exactly what Mark had to do to win me back from CJ.

"Mark we need to talk about this," I mumbled. "I think when you get home we should ..."

"Just remember this, my girl, when you look up in the sky," he said. "You can see the stars and still not see the light (that's right)."

"Mark are you singing?" I asked. I had called the bastard to tell him that we were done and he was singing. He was pretending that he was glad I was leaving him to throw me off my game. "Mark if we ... If you don't make some changes, we WILL get this divorce," I said.

"Too late for that, Honey, I ...ooooof ... Ow that hurt," he said. And in the background I heard a woman's voice mumbling something about HER being the only woman he'd better be calling HONEY."

"Mark, it's never too late," I said. "Why is it too late, Mark?"

"Cause I'm already gone," he sang. "And I'm feelin' strong.

I will sing this vict'ry song, woo-oo-oo, my my, woo-oo-oo!"

"What the fuck do you mean, you're already gone?" I screamed into the phone. Suddenly the feeling I'd been having all morning intensified. I had a feeling of dread that must have been the way that Wile E. Coyote feels just before the rock that he dropped on the road runner starts looming over his own head.

I listened into the phone to hear Mark's answer but all I heard was a dial tone. I slammed the phone down on the bed beside me just as CJ ran back into the room.

The look of fear on his face was intense. "You need to get dressed and come downstairs," he said.

I threw on a robe and belted it to prevent my boobs from spilling out. There was a huge black woman with a clipboard standing in my fucking living room like she owned it.

"Who the Fuck are you?" I asked. "Get out of my house!"

She looked at me as if she was sizing me up and then turned her back on me. "I'm in a charitable mood," she said. "I know that your situation brings a lot of anger and resentment with it ... But the two things I will not tolerate are rudeness and any delay in my schedule. I have to have this house emptied by the end of the day. And I intend to do that. Out of that same Charity, I will allow you a few moments to gather your personal belongings and ..."

"I'm not going anywhere," I said. "My husband and I own this house. It's almost paid for. CJ call the police."

"Yes," she said. "CJ call the police. That will speed things up. This house isn't almost paid for. It's totally paid for. This is probably going to be the most embarrassing moment of the rest of your life, lady." I glared at her and CJ pulled out his phone and dialed 911.

A few moments that seemed like forever passed and gave me the chance to think. I wondered then about what Mark had said. Woo-oo-oo my my Woo-oo-oo. What kind of God damned victory song was that? What kind of victory was he claiming? And then, Hank Key, the police chief, a personal friend of Mark's and mine arrived.

The woman stepped past me and handed Hank a stack of papers. He looked over them and nodded his head several times. Then he came over to me. He looked past me at CJ.

"Is that him?" he asked.

"Who?" I asked him back.

"Don't get testy," he said. "I was just wonderin' if that was the guy you was cheatin'on Mark with? It's pretty Damned cheeky of you to have him right here in Mark's house. Shit, I forgot. Mark sold the house ..."

My head exploded. Before I could process what he'd just said a woman who was even bigger than the black woman elbowed her way through the moving crew.

"Is that him?" she asked. She walked a slow circle around CJ and then smiled at me. "They said you was stupid, but I had to see it myself."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked.

"Half of the women in town are wondering why you traded your husband in for a guy with a smaller dick and no income to speak of," she smirked. "Maybe there is some truth to the theory that when you put silicone in your tits, it rots your brain."

"Watch this Tina," said the police chief. He ambled over to CJ.

"Hey, Boy, Do ya know what a woman says to a guy with a really big dick?" he asked.

"No, I don't," said CJ.

"I do," said the chief. He and his fat, female deputy erupted in laughter.

"Can we get on with this?" asked the black woman.

"Right," said the Chief. "Anne, pack your shit and Git. Mark sold the house."

"But he can't," I screamed. "This is my house. I picked it."

"But he paid for it, Anne," said the chief. "He bought it with his own money. His name is the only one on the deed. He can do whatever he wants with it."

"Bullshit, the woman always gets the house in a divorce," I yelled.

"Not always," said the chief. "Besides you guys aren't getting a divorce."

"Yes we are," I said. "I'm going to file tomorrow."

"Well you should have filed last week because that was when he sold the house," snickered the chief.

"Isn't that illegal?" I asked.

"Nope," said the chief. "It's kind of sneaky and underhanded, kind of like fucking some scumbag while your husband is at work making the money to buy you all of this shit, but it's definitely legal."

"Shit," I said. "CJ get my lawyer on the phone, I have to call the bank and our investment firm."

"Do it outside," said the black woman. She gestured and her moving crew began taking the furniture out of the house.

"Where are they taking my furniture?" I asked.

"Your husband donated the furniture to the local charity auction house, "she said. "You can always buy it back."

"I picked out every piece of that furniture and arranged it and ..." I began.

"Maybe ya should have paid for some of it," snickered Tina. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Bleach prevents ya from working don't it?"

I ignored her and concentrated on the phone call to the bank. "Carly this is Anne Clayton ... Yes Mark's wife. Carly my lawyer is going to call you very soon to put a freeze on all of our accounts so I need to make a withdrawal before that ..." she started talking to me in her extremely cheerful phone voice.

"Carly ... Business first," I said. "We can chit chat later. I'm going to need enough money to maintain the house and pay expenses for a while. Oh and when the freeze goes on, does it freeze only the current assets of the accounts or will Mark be able to route his direct deposit into another account?"

"Only the current contents of the accounts," she said. "But I think he already moved his direct deposit last week, when he quit his job."

"He did what?" I asked. "Oh shit, Carly I want to withdraw all of the money from our accounts. I want to put it all into a new account, okay?"

"Are you sure you want to withdraw all of it?" she asked.

"Hell yeah," I said. "Mark will have another job faster than Tina can empty a bucket of chicken wings, but that money is all I have until the courts agree on a divorce settlement."

"I'll have to write you a cashier's check for the amount and then you have to come in and deposit it into your new account," she said.

"Okay," I snapped just do it."

"It's done," she said. "As soon as you get here, I'll hand you a check for three dollars and eleven cents and you can ..."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Carly," I screamed. "There's almost a half a million dollars in that account."

"There was ..." she said.

"I know," I hissed. "That's how much there was last week."

"Chief that has to be illegal," I said.

"It ain't illegal," he said. "But it is kind of bad."

"Huh?" I said.

"Yep," he said. "The bank has a minimum balance rule. If your account balance dips below fifty bucks you have to pay a ten dollar fee. You ain't got enough money left to even pay the fee."

CJ handed me the phone and I started speaking to my lawyer in a rapid fire mix of words and sobs.

I told him about Mark selling the house and draining all of the money out of the bank accounts. As I spoke I had logged onto our investment account and found that Mark had cashed out all of our investments. He left only a single share of stock in a company that made cheese.

"That's pretty fucking smart," said my lawyer. "He beat you to the punch. It's all very legal. Up until the divorce is filed he can do whatever he wants with all of his assets. So he took everything. He's probably going to cash everything out and put it in a lot of offshore accounts that we can't touch. He wants to bring his net worth down to the point where you won't get shit in the divorce. And quitting his job is brilliant. When he shows up in court with no money and no job, you two will just walk away, even."

"I don't think he's going to show up at all," I said. "I think he's left town. I think he left me before I could leave him. I have no idea where he is."

"Hey," asked my lawyer "How are you going to serve the papers on him if you don't know where he is?"

"Can't I divorce him without all of that?" I asked. "What about abandonment?"

"In this state that takes three years. Do you have enough money to hold out for that long?" he asked.

"Remember, I just told you that he took all of our fucking money, you moron," I hissed.

"Wow," he said. "No money means you can't pay m ... Click"

Again all I heard was the dial tone. But added to it was the sound of three fatties snickering at me under their breath.

That was how my life went to hell. I moved in with my mother temporarily. Mark had been thorough. He had sold or given away all of our assets. He had taken all three of the cars he drove. Both of his Mustangs and the Jeep that he drove in the winter were gone. He had left my new Lexus, but I had no way to make the payments and it was soon repossessed.

I hired several free lawyers and all of them told me how badly I had to have pissed him off to do what he did. Almost all of the lawyers, when told the facts of the situation agreed that it was brilliant and completely legal.

There is no law in the country that says a man has to live with a woman just because they're married. There is also no law about selling a house that you hold the deed to. And Mark had a perfect right to withdraw the money in our accounts since he'd been the one who'd opened the accounts.

He had come out on top again. I tried calling him, only to find out that his number was no longer in service.

There was a clue. I was sure that he had somehow left me a message. I was just too stupid to figure it out.

The days turned to weeks without a word from him. The weeks stretched into months. I lost CJ before the first month had ended. He was struggling to make the rent on the apartment he shared with his girlfriend. Then he found the letter. His girlfriend had left him for another guy on the same day that Mark had left me, what are the odds of that.