New Year's Grieve

It was probably Peggy. She called my wife at least three times a day. I picked up the extension and confirmed that it was Peggy.

The two of them were having a heated conversation.

"... the hell did he run into her?" asked Peggy.

"I have no idea," said Carol. "But under the terms of the divorce, she isn't supposed to talk to anyone about it."

"What are you going to do?" asked Peggy.

"I'm going to call Steve and tell him to put a leash on his ex," said Carol angrily. "That tight assed bitch already got us kicked out of the club and ruined her own marriage. Now she wants to fuck mine up too."

"So have you given any thought to my idea?" asked Peggy. "Come on this is going to be a once in a lifetime thing."

"There's simply no way I could swing it," said Carol. "And to be truthful, I'm not sure I'd want to."

"You know you're thinking about it," laughed Peggy. "Talk to ya later."

As they both hung up the phone, I was filled with more rage than I had ever felt at any time in my life. I threw a wrench across the garage. It was a good thing that the garage was made of cinder blocks. The wrench bounced back and knocked several car wash products off of a nearby shelf.

"Gary, Honey are you alright?" called Carol from somewhere in the house.

"Better than ever," I said. And I meant it. "Honey, I'm having trouble getting some of these parts to come loose," I yelled. "I'm going out to buy an easy-out."

I knew she had no idea what an easy-out was actually used for, or that I already had several of them.

"Isn't it kind of late," she asked. "Maybe you should wait until tomorrow."

"Auto Zone is open until nine," I said. I grabbed my keys and headed for the driveway. I got into my current daily driver, a 2009 Mustang GT. That car was paid off, and since I was really happy with it. I had started the 67 as a hobby project.

First, I drove around the block to see my neighbors, Chris and Emily Green. They owned the house directly behind mine, and we often talked across the back yard fence. They also often jumped the fence and used our pool.

I knocked gently on the door, and it was answered by Emily. When she saw that it was me, she allowed her robe to open up a bit more.

"So what brings you by on this fine winter evening?" she asked. Her voice reminded me of Mae West. "Why didn't ya just hop the fence?"

"Em, you should probably bring Chris down for this," I said seriously. She nodded and called up to her husband. He came down the stairs, and we shook hands.

"Look guys, we've been friends and neighbors for a long time," I began. "So with that as a starting point, I'm asking you for the truth. Tonight, I overheard a conversation between my wife and her best friend, the town slut, that led me to believe that Carol was a member of your club and...." They looked at each other, and Emily interrupted me.

"I kind of figured this would come out sooner or later," she said. "Look Gary, like you put it; we've been friends for a long time. I almost feel like you're a part of my family, and I feel really bad about what happened, but we are not at fault here. We're as much of a victim in all of this as you are.

"Gary, we have rules that are designed just to prevent this type of thing from happening. They lied to us and falsified documents and...."

"Emily, calm down," I said soothingly. "I'm not here to blame anyone. I just want to know what happened."

"Okay, Carol came to see us," said Emily. "She told us that the two of you were having uhm ... A lull of desire and wanted to spice things up a bit. I was excited because the thought of you joining us ... Well anyway, she told me that she wanted to join but with a different partner, and that you were fully on board with it. Needless to say I was disappointed. She told us that you were having issues with your plumbing and that her membership would be temporary while you were being treated.

"We've had cases like that before, and it really is a good solution. That way, she could experience a host of different partners and wouldn't have to worry about becoming attached to any of them emotionally. Our rules prohibit any type of romantic or emotional attachments.

"So we gave her a form to have you fill out. And I asked her to have you call us. She told me that you were embarrassed about the whole thing, but she was sure that you would sign the form. I asked her also to bring a copy of your signature on a check, or a bill or some other type of legal document for comparison. But for the most part, I believed her. I mean we've been friends for years. We see each other on an almost daily basis. Why would she lie?

"When she first showed up for one of our parties, it made sense. She was with Steve Clark. Steve had wanted to join us for years. His wife, Misti, on the other hand, was kind of shy and standoffish. I'm sure she's a nice woman, but from the second, she found out about our lifestyle, she began to avoid us. She acted like I'm some sort of whore. I've always thought that she was frigid or sexually repressed.

"So the combination of Carol and Steve, both of whom had permission from their spouses made sense. Anyway, to make a very long story short, almost a year after they joined I got a call from a lawyer. She threatened to make our whole club public and name Chris and I, and all the other members of the club in a divorce case. It turned out that Misti had not only NOT given her husband permission to participate, but she was divorcing him for serial infidelity. Your wife was also going to be sued for actions leading to the dissolution of the marriage.

"We kicked both of them out, and banned them both. From what I understand nothing ever came of it. Steve and Misti settled before anything went to court. She got the house, her car, and a huge amount of alimony in addition to half of their savings and checking accounts. She also gets half of Steve's pension. And get this, her alimony lasts until Steve retires, or she remarries. Steve also has to pay the mortgage on the house. That bitch made out like a bandit.

"We kept the whole thing as quiet as possible, so none of the innocent family members were hurt or embarrassed. I think you've probably noticed that while Chris and I are still friendly with you; we barely speak to Carol and never without you.

"We've heard lately though that Carol and that whore she hangs out with have been hosting a few parties themselves with a variety of single men. From what we've heard it's mostly Peggy, but Carol does participate occasionally. Gary, I'm really sorry." I just nodded. After taking a few moments to compose myself, I looked at her.

"Em, thanks for telling me," I said. My calm voice and steady gaze were all an act. I was far angrier than I had ever been in my life. I knew what my next step was, and it would not be pretty.

I called a friend of mine, Joe Clark. Joe worked for the same company I did. I was an engineering component designer, and Joe was a CNC programmer. Joe was also Steve's brother.

"Hey Joe," I said into the phone. "I need to talk to your bro about some of Benny's grades during his last year of school. Some of those classes were supposedly college-prep classes that counted towards his first year. Why the hell do I have to pay for him to take those same classes all over again?"

"Gary, I don't need to hear about it," he said. "I've been saving every nickel I can, and I'm still terrified about how much school is going to cost for my twins. Fill me in on whatever you find out so I'll know too." He gave me Steve's new address.

"Hey, Joe, Steve makes pretty good money as the principal at the high school doesn't he? Why the hell is he living in an apartment?"

"He and Misti split up a while back, and she got the house in their divorce settlement. Steve has to pay the mortgage and pay her alimony. That bitch really stuck it to him. The way I heard it, she just woke up one morning and asked him for a divorce. He was devastated. There are rumors that she's a lesbian. You'd think she would have told him something like that BEFORE she married him. I think she set him up."

Ten minutes later, I was standing in front of a building that did not house the best apartments in town. The apartments there mostly catered to people who had lower incomes, and we're just starting out in life. They weren't slums. They were well kept up and most of the people who lived in them were college students or people who had recently moved to town and had not yet established themselves.

I found out which apartment he was in by looking at the mailboxes. A guy coming out of the elevator held the security door open for me, and I went up to Steve's place on the third floor. I took the stairs two at a time, but it didn't burn off any of the energy I got from my anger.

I knocked on Steve's door. He answered it by opening it up a crack. I saw a thick security chain across the gap.

"Gary?" he asked. "What do you want? My brother called me and said that you needed some information about Benny's classes. Those were college-prep classes, he said. They weren't college credit classes. They don't transfer."

"Steve, what I want is for you to open this fucking door before I take it down," I hissed.

"Gary, I'm calling the police," he said.

"Here," I said. "Use my phone. I've already punched in 911. All you have to do is hit the call button. But remember once the police get here; they'll want to ask why I was here. And once I tell them that I wanted to talk to you about why you fucked my wife; I'm not sure how long you'll have your job. This is a small town. I'm not sure they'll like the idea of an adulterer running the high school and guiding all of those impressionable kids. As a ..."

Before I could finish he had opened the door.

"Jeezus, Gary, not so loud," he said. "Someone might hear you. You could ruin my career."

"You mean the way you ruined my marriage," I said, stepping inside of his small apartment. "You mean the way you ruined my life and my kids' lives and even affected any grand kids I'll have." He just looked at the floor.

"Look Gary, I am so sorry," he said. "But it takes two to tango. The person you should really be upset with is Carol. And your marriage isn't ruined. You two are still together. You'll be fine. In time, you'll forget all about this. Do you know what I'm going through? I'm paying for it. Believe me; I am paying for what I did."

My first punch snapped his head back so fast he didn't realize what had happened. My second blow knocked him backwards out of his chair. Then I started kicking him. I kicked him in his face several times and worked my way down his body. I kicked him in his stomach and his back and his nuts and down both legs. He had long since stopped trying to resist. He was unconscious.

I made a cup of coffee and sat in a chair to wait for him. I made sure that he was still breathing. One of my kicks to his head must have knocked him out.

When he awoke, I was leaning over him.

"Steve, you will tell no one what happened to you," I said. "No one. Do you understand me?" He nodded his head weakly.

"Carol is going to call you. You will not tell her that I know about the two of you. Right now, she has no idea that I know. She is going to warn you to put some pressure on Misti. I ran into Misti at the market today. But, Misti didn't actually tell me anything. Carol did. When I told her that I had seen Misti, Carol freaked out, and I overheard one of her phone calls to Peggy. She talked about getting kicked out of our local swingers club, so I spoke to Emily and Chris. They were the ones who told me.

If you value your career at all, you should never tell anyone what happened between us. I'll have you run out of this town so fast you won't believe it. But as long as you keep your mouth shut, you and I are done, okay."

"Okay," he slurred. "Gary, I really am sorry."

"Steve, one more thing," I said. "I really have to know. Misti is about five years younger than Carol. She's prettier. She's thinner. She's ..."

"She's boring," he spat. "I've known her since she was only twenty years old. I was her first. She isn't frigid. She gave me sex and pretty frequently. But it was always the same. She must've read too many romance novels when she was growing up. She wants candles, cards, and hugs; no experimentation and no other partners. To her sex and love are the same thing. If I even looked at another woman she'd burst out in tears.

Carol has those big old tits; Misti's tits would fit in a tea cup with room left over. Carol could take on three guys and still be ready for more. After doing it once or twice, Misti needed to be held for hours, and then she wanted to fuckin' talk. She's an old woman in a thirty-year-old body. I wish I had never married her. Like I said before, boy am I paying for it."

I went home then. I went straight back to the garage. Carol came out to see what was going on. She hovered around me, wearing nothing but a robe. I had so many things on my mind. I was sure that Carol was paying Misti some kind of settlement too. About eight months ago just before Benny graduated and left for college, Carol had taken a part-time job.

She told me that she just needed something to do since the kids were both out of the house. I had often joked about how little money she actually made. However, I was pretty sure now that I had all of the facts that Carol was paying most of her salary to Misti for the lawsuit.

"Honey, when are you coming to bed," asked Carol. Normally, I'd have been on her the second the words left her mouth. Normally, it was all I could do to keep my hands off of those big old titties that Steve had talked about.

"I'll be in soon," I said. She frowned as she walked back into the house. I watched her go wondering how stupid I had to have been not to have ever noticed what she'd been doing.

The next day I got up early and went to work. Carol was disappointed that I was going to work again. I didn't actually go to work though. I left the house at the same time I would have if I was going to work. I went to a local electronics store and picked up a few things. And then I went to visit Chris and Em again.

I got the name of the lawyer Misti had used in her divorce. I called and got an appointment for later that day.

I went home at lunch time. I told Carol that I had missed her and just wanted to see her. After a few kisses that almost made me gag, I got her to make me something for lunch. While she did that, I installed the recording device that I'd bought earlier in the day, on the phone. I also stuck a couple of tiny cameras around the house.

When I left the house, I went to the lawyer's office. We had an interesting meeting. Before I left she told me that she could easily handle my case and could give me a discount because a lot of the legal work had already been done. She also told me that the facts of Misti's divorce, including Carol's part in it were already a part of the court record, so I could easily prove infidelity without having to lift a finger.

"So don't go out and do anything stupid," she told me.

"What makes you think I would do something stupid?" I asked.

"Two things," she said. "You work as an engineer, right?"

"Yep," I said. "But that doesn't mean that I ..."

"So why do your knuckles look all busted up like you work as a bouncer?" She asked.

"Okay, what's number two," I asked her.

"The look on your face," she said. "You look like you really loved your wife, and all of this has devastated you. It looks like you want to hurt someone for the pain you're going through. In situations like this men need to prove that they're still manly. They do that by beating the crap out of the men who took what was theirs. In your case, you could end up in jail and realistically what they got was freely given. I've only seen that look on a person's face once before, and it didn't turn out well."

"When was that?" I asked.

"Misti," she said. "I know it's hard to believe, but she used to be a really nice woman. She was a little bit shy, but she was sweet. She grew up in the country on a farm. All she ever wanted was to have a man who loved her that she could love back. What her husband did tore her apart. I tried to become friends with her, but she doesn't talk to anyone, ever. It's a shame really."

"I know how she feels," I said.

Over the next few days, I checked the phone recordings daily. It wasn't until December 29th that I heard something I could use though.

"Carol you have to find a way to come," said Peggy. "This is going to be special. I got Fred, Barney, Larry, Curly, Moe, and Joe coming. I even got Shemp to agree to drop by, but he can't stay for very long. He's going to be at Emily's party with his wife. Can you believe he's sneaking out of a swingers bash to come to our little party? Fred is supposedly going to bring a few of the guys he works with. It would be so much better if you were there."

"Peggy, unlike you, I have a husband at home. I have no idea what we're doing for New Year's Eve," said Carol. "He asked me yesterday if I wanted to go to Chris and Emily's party. That would be a disaster. Half of the people in their little club still hate me. One of them would probably start flapping their lips, and I could lose Gary. The later the evening went on the bigger the chances that one of them would get drunk and start talking.

Shit, we probably won't do anything. We'll probably sit home like two old people and watch TV."

That gave me an idea. The first thing was that I knew all of the guys she had mentioned. The next day, another fake work day I put my plans into action.

I went to visit Fred first. I waited for him to leave his apartment and followed him. Fred was a construction worker. He was divorced and also worked as the coach of our town's little league baseball team.

I caught him just as he was about to get into his truck. I tapped him on the shoulder, and as he spun to see who had tapped him, I hit him as hard as I could. If I was expecting a fight, I was disappointed.

"Okay, here take the money," he said. "It's only twenty two dollars. You can have it." Then he looked at me.

"Gary, what the fuck? I think you broke my jaw," he whined. "What did I ever do to you?"

"How many times," I screamed.

"Okay, look," he said. "It was only a couple of times a season. But it was for the good of the team. If I had let your kid play, we would have lost for sure. The kid can't hit a bus stopped at a traffic light. Let alone a fast ball. And Gary even you have to admit he throws like a girl. It's not your fault. I was his God Damned coach but I..."

I slapped him with the back of my hand, shutting him up. "I'm not talking about baseball asshole," I said. "How many times did you fuck Carol?" He paled instantly.

"Gary, I'm sorry, man," he whined. "After my divorce, I was lonely. I was desperate. So I went to see Peggy. Shit, I only did it on the QT. Peggy is the biggest whore in town. No one wants anybody to know they fuck Peggy, but half of the guys in town have. Carol was there once or twice. She isn't like Peggy; she just did it for some variety. She doesn't let a guy kiss her. She won't suck anybody's dick, and she doesn't let them fuck her ass either. I didn't want to hurt you Gary, but it was pussy.

"Come on guy. Name one guy who wouldn't screw some other dude's wife if he thought no one would find out."