Lifestyle Ch. 13 - Single Swingers

Author's Note: My stories are about swingers and usually told from Ted (husband's) first person POV. This story is told from another guy's point of view, but will again include my favorite characters, Ted and Jan.

If extra-marital fun and sharing offend you, skip this story. Or read on, and learn why some people might do it.

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Divorce

"After Audrey's lawyer notified Becky's government boss, the consulting firm fired Becky," Dennis said.

"Sorry buddy, but who didn't see that coming?" I said, with just a little sarcasm.

"Come on, Roger! You could at least sound sympathetic after all the years we've known each other," my friend said.

"But you and Becky were sharing a room with a single king bed three days per month at these conferences for the past year," I continued. "You can't BOTH submit travel expense vouchers for the full cost of that room."

"We could have gotten two separate rooms, then shacked up in just one," he exclaimed. "So, what's the difference? But they fired her! So, she won't be back here again. Now the bitch won't even take my calls to talk about getting together after Audrey's done with me in the divorce."

I just shook my head. Some people never learn. "I guess it was just bad luck that the hotel found Becky's vibrator and sent it to your home address on your registration."

"My wife saw that the package was from the hotel. After she opened it, she hired the private investigator," Dennis said, still not recognizing any wrong on his part. "Fortunately, I'm in the government employee union, so they can't fire me. So, I'll see you again next month as usual," Dennis said as he stood to go. "Thanks for the drink, and for listening."

"No, problem," I replied. "Let me know how it turns out, and good luck. And hey, when you see Audrey, tell her I said 'Hi!'" I added cheerfully.

Dennis glared at me before saying harshly "Fuck you!"

As he was about to turn to go catch his flight, he added "It's my turn to buy the drinks next time." Then he left me at the airport bar with another hour before I needed to go to the gate for my flight.

He was heading home after this conference to again face the music of his angry wife in their court-ordered counseling session. It was three months earlier when his wife received that package, and just a month later when her Private Investigator identified his girlfriend. The excuses sounded rather hollow as Dennis tried to convince me he was in a bad, almost sexless marriage. His wife was a stay-at-home mother, taking care of the house and their still young kids. So, I couldn't relate to his self-inflicted loneliness and misery. But I sat here commiserating with my old friend over his pending divorce, which brought back the memories of mine years ago.

I left the Army after fifteen years with an early medical retirement. The wounds weren't debilitating but caused enough long-term medical issues for them to discharge me.

Lisa and I then grew further apart over the next three years, as I moved from one job to another, and the youngest of the kids became a teenager. I know my previous military deployments were tough on my wife. But there was always an end in sight to those hardships, even if I had stayed for twenty years. The tensions between us oddly seemed to grow once I was discharged from the Army when I was sure to come home regularly from work every day.

After leaving the Army and eventually getting a steady office job, my wife also found her niche with her MBA degree in a new nine-to-five office job. But she chose to change her schedule by sleeping in later and working later every day. She left me to work AND handle the house chores, ensure the kids went to school, check on the kids after school, pay the bills, and make family dinners to ensure some type of homelife for our teenagers. The emotional distance between my wife and I separated us even further than my Army deployments.

When the kids were finally of an age when their high school activities and friends kept them busy in the evenings, I would leave work at five o'clock, and call my wife as I left my office, asking her to meet me for drinks or dinner out. And she would always cheerfully agree to meet me. But half the time, she would show up an hour late, and the other times she wouldn't show up at all before I would decide to head home instead of waiting any longer and getting drunk.

My drinking grew worse as our sex life dried up to no more than once a month, and even that was a grudging, unemotional act, which she made sure I knew was more than just an inconvenience to her.

During our family dinners at home, the kids and I would usually have some pleasant, lively talks, except for the rare times their mother came home from work by seven o'clock. Then my wife would sit down with us to eat and dominate the conversation with whatever was on her mind, showing no interest in our lives. And her discussions would often lead to disagreements with me, with the volume of her voice rising. If I complained about the noise level, she'd say, "I have to shout, so you can understand me!"

The years dragged by and after the last of our kids was out of the house and away at college, Lisa found even more reasons to avoid spending time with me. When I asked her to do something together on weekends such as going out to a winery or movie, she would make excuses. She would say she needed to go into her office. Or she would just disappear, staying away from the house for hours, then return saying she was just out running "errands".

So, I found a web site for 'Meetup Groups' to meet people outside of work as my only company in the evenings or weekends. A group of people would meet to go bowling, play golf, or just have dinner together at restaurants. But most of those people were divorced or separated. The divorced women, in particular, were always interested in hearing me explain why my wife wasn't there with me.

"She's working late, again," I would say.

"Are you sure she's in the office?" a divorcee might ask, with a hopeful hint in her voice of her replacing my wife.

On one Friday evening at eight o'clock, I was sitting in a restaurant meetup, talking to three women at my table when I was asked that question. So, I pulled out my cellphone and called my wife's office number, putting the phone on speaker to prove my wife was at her office. I asked Lisa to join the four of us, explaining I was sitting with three women listening to a nice dance band. Her indifferent response was "No, I have too much work here. I'll see you later."

After she hung up, one of the women pondered, "Don't you ever wonder who she's working with?"

That's when I decided it was over. I had no social life with my estranged wife, just an empty house and lonely evenings and weekends. That evening was the first time I left a meetup with another woman. When I returned home that night, alone at two o'clock in the morning, my wife still wasn't there. And this wasn't her first time "working" that late.

While in my mind our divorce seemed inevitable, I was still surprised with my wife's attitude toward the situation.

Lisa became angry when she realized I was staying out late, too. She asked me if I was having an affair, and I didn't lie to her.

"It's not an affair," I said. "But since you don't like sex with me, think of this as outsourcing."

In hindsight, I should have anticipated the explosion that followed. She acted as if a thief stole something from her! I was a piece of property some other woman was taking from her. I wasn't something she wanted, but the marriage license still made me her property.

By then, my indifference to Lisa's shouting rants was fine-tuned to perfection, and her latest rants fell on deaf ears. There was no particular "other woman" in my life, just my feeling that there was nothing left between us. With the kids grown and out of the house, I thought it was an obvious decision: split everything in half and go our separate ways.

Lisa, however, saw things differently. She hired a lawyer, and our divorce dragged out and was messy. But after enduring more than six months of her rants and her lawyer's demands every time we had to meet or exchange texts or e-mails, we eventually ended up as I expected: splitting everything in half and going our separate ways.

So, when Dennis described his circumstances, I wasn't surprised with his wife's reaction to another woman being involved. Dennis would probably be headed for a lonely life, particularly since his girlfriend was fired over their indiscretion ... and stupidity. And his future of alimony, child support, and visitation rights with young kids would interfere with any plans he might have for any other relationships.

I told Dennis this round of drinks was on me, so he left his half empty glass when he walked away to catch his flight.

Three minutes later, a woman stepped up to the crowded bar, standing to my left behind Dennis's now vacant seat. When she tried to catch the busy bartender's attention, I turned to her saying, "This seat's empty now."

The gorgeous, auburn-haired woman sat on the bar stool. She wore her slightly curled long hair pulled up in the back and held by a hair clip, leaving most of it hanging down in the back between her shoulders. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement, as if she's always having fun. She was dressed in an attractive knee-length skirt, silk blouse, and wore four-inch heels. I could smell the slight hint of orange from her subtle perfume.

"I'll have Courvoisier and a glass of water," she told the bartender.

"And I'll have another Captain and coke," I said, pointing to my almost empty glass.

She turned in the seat to face me, crossing her legs in a seductive pose, and running one hand down her shapely leg, asking "Isn't your wife coming back?"

I held out my left hand showing her the empty ring finger. "I'm not married."

"A missing wedding ring is no indicator," she replied, as the bartender set the two glasses near her. "I learned that lesson a long time ago." And she reached for the cognac, cupping the rounded bottom of the glass in her hand.

"True," I admitted, and I picked up my glass to finish that drink as the bartender set a fresh glass in front of me. "But I am divorced. ... I see you're wearing a wedding ring. Are you really married? Or is that to fend off predators?"

"Oh, I don't need a ring to ruin a predator's day," she replied confidently, then sipped the cognac. "But I've been happily married for thirty years. By the way, my name's Jan."

"I'm Roger," I said. "I was sort of contentedly married for about ten years. But the subsequent fourteen years of it were like crap. Since then, it's gotten much better."

"Why would you stay married for so long, if it was that bad?" she asked.

"We had kids, and I'm not the type to let my kids grow up without a father."

"So, did your wife cheat on you?" she asked.

"Not that I know. She just became consumed with her job. It was me who eventually cheated," I admitted.

After discussing the divorce details with Dennis, I felt more open to talking about it, even with a stranger. "We just had nothing left in common, anymore."

"I applaud you staying for the kids," she said. "But you're right. Life's too short and you need to enjoy the only life you have. If my husband wasn't the one I still wanted, I'd be out of there."

"It's nice to meet someone who is still happily married," I said. "But I was hoping you might be hitting on me."

Jan chuckled, then said "Well, if I weren't married, then I would take you up on that. But as I say when pointing out hot women to my husband: 'In your dreams.'"

We continued our banter back and forth for the next half hour. Jan said she was in town for a special project meeting at her company's corporate office. I explained I was here for a monthly three-day planning conference. Then she finished her drink and said she had to go to the lady's room before her flight. When she raised her hand to catch the bartender's attention to pay her tab, I stopped her. "Let me get this," as I asked the bartender to put her drink on my tab.

"That's nice of you," Jan said. "Now I'll owe you for it the next time we meet."

"You made my day just by being you," I said. "And I like the idea of having a beautiful woman in my debt."

Jan stood from her barstool and grasped the handle of her carry-on luggage, saying cheerfully "Thanks for the drink. I hope we meet again." Then she turned and took three steps walking away as I watched her, before she suddenly stopped and slowly turned her head to look back at me over her shoulder. "Are you staring at my ass?" she asked coyly.

Taken aback by her question, I hesitated before asking "Should I?"

"Of course!" she said cheerfully. "I was just checking to make sure you're paying attention." She turned back around to continue walking away.

When I lost sight of her in the crowd, I turned back to finish my drink, basking in the afterglow of a gorgeous woman's flirting conversation.

***

I took my time finishing my drink and paid the tab. By the time I arrived at the gate for my flight, I was one of the last boarding. With my reserved seat near the front of the business class section on this large plane, I like to let the others board and be seated first. This strategy allows me to comfortably avoid those struggling with their carry-on luggage. I always pay for a checked bag, so I don't have that hassle.

After my plane landed, I walked to baggage claim and stood waiting for the luggage. I turned my cellphone on and checked the text messages to find one from my friend, Pattie.

"Are you available for a party tomorrow evening?" she asked.

I texted back to her; "Saturday? Sure. Pick you up, or meet there? And where?"

About ten minutes later, she replied, "Maggie and Dan are hosting. Starts at six, but I'll meet you there at seven. Need a ride home."

"How are you getting there?" I asked.

"Girlfriend I want to introduce to the group. Want optics of my 'hubby' there."

Pattie was a cute girl with short brown hair at about five foot two and weighed about one hundred pounds. She wasn't my wife, "girlfriend", or even a "friend with benefits". We were just together as a couple for convenience. We both found it beneficial to have a partner to attend some parties when either of us needed an escort.

After my divorce, I wasn't ready to hook up with a divorcee who might be looking for her next husband. So, after a few such awkward encounters among the Meetup crowd, it was almost a year later when I found a more compatible group for my sex needs among the swinger lifestyle folks.

Pattie and I first met at a local swinger party. But the couple who held those monthly parties was rather wild, and they posted their party invites on the website, open to everyone. This has the expected result of attracting some unsavory types.

Most people in the swinger lifestyle adhere to the belief "No, means NO!" But there are some guys who push the limits with their belief that a woman attending a swinger party is fair game. Some unpleasant characters at those open parties can cause tensions and eventually have to be escorted out.

Pattie and I talked at that party, after I intervened to warn off a large guy who wasn't taking HER "No!" very well. At six feet two and weighing two hundred twenty pounds of all muscle, I don't get into fights. The dickhead was trying to intimidate her by backing her into a corner, and I could tell she was uncomfortable with the situation. But he was as easily intimidated by me just towering over him. So, when I growled "The lady said no," he heard it and just slunk away.

Pattie eventually relaxed and confided in me that she wasn't there looking for men but was more interested in the other women. But with the obnoxious guy's unwanted advances, she wasn't feeling safe there. So, I offered her my arm as an escort for the rest of that evening and in the future whenever she wanted.

We both had profiles on the swinger lifestyle website, me as a single straight guy and Pattie as a "Bi" single female. After she took me up on my offer to escort her a few times, we seemed compatible enough as a couple to get invites to more exclusive "couples-only" house parties.

Married couples in this lifestyle often avoid the plethora of single men or the rare single women due to the potential for emotional entanglements. But even as an unmarried couple, together, Pattie and I were welcome at those safer couples house parties.

Although Pattie listed herself as "Bi" in her web site profile, she said she was more a lesbian. She'll sometimes fuck a guy at these parties if she's horny and none of the women are free to play with her, but the guys are never her first choice. She prefers to play with the wives. She laughingly said I might count on her if I were feeling particularly horny and unloved, but ONLY as a last resort. Having previously endured sex with my unemotional ex-wife, I wasn't inclined to stoop so low as to ask Pattie for such sexual favors. So, we get along rather well together, but only as platonic friends. I really prefer going to these swinger parties to play with women who might actually WANT me to fuck them.

***

Party Time

Dan and Maggie are a longtime married empty-nest couple and host their couples-only parties about once every three months. We met them at a different house party, and Pattie and I have been to their house several times.

Dan's about five foot ten, slim, and about three years older than his wife. Pattie said if she were into guys, she'd do him, and she did once when she was with him and his wife together. She just prefers playing with the other wives.

Maggie's a good-looking woman with shoulder-length platinum-blonde hair and a gorgeous figure. Those other times we were at their parties, she always came to me, taking me to a bedroom.

Although Dan and Maggie had been married for decades, they were both on their second marriage. I talked to them over drinks at the parties, trying to understand why they're in this lifestyle. Dan explained he's never really jealous of his wife fucking other guys. After all, he said, they were both married to others before. But he avoids the room when she is with another guy. Maggie told me she likes the aftermath of these parties when Dan punishes her for being his bad girl, and he 'reclaims her' later after everyone leaves.

I thought theirs' was an unusual relationship, but then I met another guy at one party, who sat in a corner watching guys come and go in the room, taking turns fucking his wife. I could never understand how married guys could do that; share their wives with other men. But he said he and his wife take turns, and the next time she'll sit in the corner with a glass of wine and watch him fucking other women. I thought 'It takes all kinds.'

And as long as these guys are willing to share their wives, I'll take advantage of the opportunity for sex, without the emotional hang-ups and dating games some women want to play.

***

Arriving at the house at seven, I got out of my car carrying two bottles of Pino Grigio from our hostess's preferred winery. Walking around the side of the house, and knocked briefly on the kitchen door, then went in without waiting.

Dan was standing in the kitchen talking to another couple. "Roger, I'm glad you could make it," he said cheerfully as he shook my hand. "Where's Pattie?"

"She should be here soon," I said, and I handed him the wine.

"There are about fifteen couples, and you know most of them," he said as he took the bottles. "Some people have already started upstairs. You know your way around, so make yourself at home."

"Where's your wife?" I asked, hoping to find Maggie.