Picture of Betrayal

"By this time next year she'll be working with the world's best photographers and making four times that," I said. "She'll be socializing with the rich and famous and you and I won't even be a distant memory."

I looked into the sad face of my faithful companion. "Come on," I said with a second forced smile, "let's get back to work."

For the next couple of months that's exactly what I did...work; work, work, and more work. I guess that's what a lot of people do in situations like mine; they throw themselves into their jobs. The positive side was the money, I was making more than I'd ever made in my life. The negative side was the loneliness.

Marcy had been pushing me to start dating again but I really just wasn't in the mood. Truth be told, finding out your wife is screwing another man can have a devastating effect on a person's confidence level.

Out of all the couples that Stacy and I hung around with when we were married, Jerry and Gwen were the only ones to keep in contact. They had me over for dinner once and I'd met Jerry over an after work beer a couple of times. They didn't rub my nose in it but they would casually keep me up to date on Stacy. I imagined they did the same for her.

I guess she was going to try and keep the house but after paying the bills a couple months in a row, she gave up on the idea. Whenever she could, Gwen, ever the optimist, just happened to mention that Stacy wasn't dating either. I guess I couldn't blame her for trying.

One day I realized I had kept myself so busy with work I was unaware of the date. Of course I kept a close watch on my schedule; Monday, this shoot, Wednesday, that shoot—but as far as where we actually were in the calendar year, I had been completely oblivious. Each day just kind of melted into another. It was Marcy who jostled me from my ephemeris funk.

"Shayne, I do have Labor Day off, right? Aaron and I are going to his parents."

"Labor Day?" I uttered.

"Yeah, it's Monday."

"Ah, yeah, yeah of course you're off," I replied.

Later that evening I sat in my apartment, thinking summer was coming to a close. I usually enjoyed summers but I sure hadn't enjoyed that one. Summers had always been fun for Stacy and me—going to the beach, socializing with friends, going on site-seeing trips in the car...

I looked all the way back to April and that screwed up shoot in Peoria, trying to remember just one truly happy moment I'd had since then...there were none, and now the summer was almost gone. It was downright depressing.

Things picked up a little the very next day. Jerry called to invite me to a Labor Day party at his house. At first I was reluctant. I figured Stacy would be there and I really wasn't ready for that yet, but he told me she had other plans. I didn't ask what they were. He finally talked me into going and I was actually looking forward to it.

It turned out to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day so everything was set up in their back yard. When I got there I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in months. Of course everyone told me how sorry they were to hear about Stacy and me but once that was out of the way I was starting to enjoy myself. In addition to the usual crowd there were a few people I didn't recognize.

I spotted one woman in particular. She wasn't a raving beauty but she was attractive and had a body that wouldn't quit. The tight white shorts she had sprayed on were inciting some stiffness problems that could prove to be embarrassing. I watched her for a little bit and she didn't seem to with anyone but about the time I was going to introduce myself, somebody came up and started talking. When I got a chance to look back over she was gone.

I didn't want to be perceived as a stalker, or even worse, appear desperate, so I grabbed a paper plate and wandered over to the grill. I was waiting for Jerry to flip a burger on a bun for me when she walked up behind us.

"You're the photographer, right?"

Jerry and I both looked in her direction. Jerry took the lead. "You two haven't met, yet? I'm sorry. Shayne, this is Sidney Ringstrom, she works with Gwen. Sid, this is Shayne Burke, and yes, he's the photographer...and a hell of a nice guy," he added with a big grin.

"Nice to meet you," she said, reaching out with her hand.

I took it and greeted her likewise. "Are you interested in photography?" I asked while Jerry slipped a burger on each of our buns.

"I don't take pictures myself but I love to see them in magazines and things. Gwen says you're famous."

I had to chuckle as I responded. "No, I'm not famous, not at all. In fact if you walked two blocks away from my studio in any direction, you wouldn't find a soul who knew my name," I said, correcting what she'd been told. "I am proud of my work, though."

We drifted over to a couple of chairs sitting in the shade of a tree and talked while dining on our holiday cuisine. She was from some little town down state I'd never heard of and had only been in the Chicago area for three years. She really did seem to be very nice.

She was also playful and funny with a good sense of humor. We had each other laughing several times; the first time for me in a long time. I couldn't help but wonder what she'd be like in bed. I still had a month to go before being officially divorced but if I got the chance to get laid I wasn't going to pass it up.

During the day we split up several times as others made demands on our time but we always found our way back to each other. As the party started to wind down I was going to ask for her number but she beat me to it.

"I'd love to see your studio someday."

"Anytime," I told her, "just name it."

"Really? Are you open on weekends?"

"No, but that doesn't mean you can't come to see it. Saturday...Sunday...what's good for you? I live only a few blocks from it so it's no big deal for me to be there. Half the time I'm there on weekends editing pictures anyway."

The next morning Marcy commented on the smile that stretched across my face. I must admit, I felt good. I made reservations at a nice restaurant in the city and planned to take Sid out for dinner after showing her around the studio, Saturday. She seemed interested at the party so I was pretty confident she'd accept my invitation. I even caught myself quietly singing under my breath while setting up for a shoot—something I used to do all the time.

Marcy asked a couple of times during the day, what was going on? I told her, nothing. I was just feeling a little better. She looked at me suspiciously but let it drop.

Saturday, I got to the studio a little early so I could tidy it up a little. I had coffee brewing and a few beers in the small fridge when she walked in. I was a little disappointed when I saw she wasn't wearing those skin-tight shorts but she still looked good in a short skirt. We walked around while I explained how things worked and what I used this and that for. She wanted to see some of my work so we went into the office and had a beer while I showed her some of the final edits from ad shots I'd done recently.

One of the reasons I don't drink a lot of beer is that it goes right through me. I left her sitting in front of the computer screen as I excused myself to go take a leak. When I returned, not more than a minute later, she was gone. I only had the one bathroom so I knew she wasn't in there. I couldn't image she'd left so I called out her name.

"In here," she answered.

It sounded like her voice came from the studio so I wandered in. I found her standing in front of my strobe lights—naked. "Okay, show me how to pose," she said, wearing only a smile.

It's funny, on occasion an assignment will require I work with a nude model. When it's business it doesn't affect me. It's simply part of the job...but walking into a room and seeing a beautiful naked body on a woman I want to fuck had the same effect on me as it would anyone else. I got an instant hard on. I really wanted her right then and there. Unfortunately, the fact that she was in the studio and not waiting for me in my bed led me to believe she wasn't quite ready for step two yet, so...

"Hold on," I said. "If we're going to do this we're going to do it right." I changed the backdrop and moved some "boudoir" looking furniture into place. I showed her how to pose and took some tasteful, artistic nudes of her. She wasn't expecting anything like that. I think she thought I'd snap a picture of her standing there in her birthday suit and that would be it.

We spent about an hour shooting. When we were done I handed her a robe and we went into the office to upload the shots into the computer. I never saw anyone get so excited when she saw them. I did a couple quick edits on the best ones and made her some prints. She jumped at my offer to go have dinner, after which we wound up at my place. She wasn't real impressed.

"Hmmm," she hummed while looking around, "I see your artistic talent for photography doesn't carry over in your taste for furniture." She was smiling when she said it but she was right.

"I don't need much," I replied. I spend eighty percent of my time at the studio. All I need here is a place to eat and sleep."

"Sleep...yes," she said coquettishly. "Where do you do that?"

I'm sure my heart started beating just a little faster. "Right this way," I said as I took her hand and led her down the hall. The bedroom furniture wasn't much better than what I had in the living room but I did have a nice, queen sized mattress. At the time I bought it I was looking ahead to occasions just like this.

Without saying a word, Sid turned, put her arms around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. Our tongues were still dueling as she slipped her hands between us and started to unbutton my shirt. Slowly we undressed one another before reclining on the bed. I loved the way her body twisted and writhed to my every touch. She literally screamed my name as I manipulated her nipple between my teeth.

Slowly I kissed my way down until the wet lips of my mouth joined the wet lips of her pussy.

"Oh God, oh God," she screamed again and again. I felt her hands on the back of my head gently pushing me further into her depths of womanhood. I felt her body tense, her back arched as she threw her head back, screaming in ecstasy.

I slowed down and gently licked her pussy while she gradually returned from her euphoric high. I had to smile, it had been a few months since I'd been able to give that kind of pleasure to a woman. It felt good.

She was still breathing a little heavy as I crawled into position. I needed relief myself. I was so hard I could have used my cock as a billy-club. Anxiously, Sid reached down and guided me in. She put her arms around my neck and looked into my eyes as I started to move. The more I stroked the more ragged her breathing became. Before I knew it she was again in the throes of a full-blown orgasm. I felt her nails dig into my back as she screamed. Her legs wrapped around my back and she pulled me in tighter as her body bucked back and forth.

I didn't want to come yet so again I slowed, waiting for the urge to pass, I leaned down and kissed her.

On the second round I could hold back no more. Sid grabbed my neck and pulled me down, flat against her chest as we came together. After a few minutes I rolled off of her and to the side.

"Oh God, I needed that," she chuckled between deep breaths.

"You too?" I chuckled back.

I tried to talk her into staying the night but she said she had work the following day and needed to get home. I did talk her into a shower before leaving.

"Oh Jesus, did I do that?" she asked, tracing the scratches on my back with her finger.

I smiled. "That's alright," I responded, "I'm thinking about going without a shirt for the next few days so I can display them proudly."

With hot water raining over us, we did it one more time before she left.

***

It was the first really cold day of the season when the last remains of my marriage arrived in the mail. I wondered if it was an omen. Sid and I had been getting together two or three times a week for a romp in the sheets but there was no real spark there for either of us. As soon as I saw the envelope from the Cook County Clerk's Office I pulled it out and laid the rest of the mail on the counter. It was all business related so Marcy went through it.

"You were wrong," she said, holding a card in her hand.

"Wrong...about what?"

"You said we'd never hear from Alecta again. She sent us a post card—from Paris."

"No kidding, what'd she say?"

She read me the short note. "I made it. I still don't know how I'll ever thank you. Love, Alecta."

Her timing couldn't have been better. Reading the words, "Dissolution of Marriage," is disheartening, I don't care what anyone says. But Alecta's post card kind of balanced the scale; the end of one chapter...the beginning of another.

A month later we had snow on the ground and temperatures in the mid-thirties already. Winter was getting a running start.

I had rekindled a few friendships at Jerry's Labor Day party so I did get invited here and there once in a while. Sometimes Sid would come with me but I still wasn't actively dating. Evidently Stacy seemed to be doing betting in that respect than I was. I'd heard through the grapevine that she was going out with a nice guy she'd met at work. Apparently they'd gone to a company Labor Day picnic together. That's why she wasn't at Jerry's. Inwardly I wished her well. Hell, at one time I had loved that woman with all my heart. I couldn't hold a grudge forever.

If you've ever been to Chicago in the winter you know about the detestable parking problems. I didn't care how cold and blustery it was, if I didn't need my car for a job I left it sitting in my parking spot, filled a travel cup with some hot coffee, and walked the thirteen blocks to the studio. My route always took me past an outdoor magazine stand, one of the last few remnants of days gone by in older Chicago. Of course I always glanced at the covers as I passed.

On one particularly cold morning in late February the cover of Vogue's March issue caught my eye. The headline read; "The World's Newest Supermodels," and pictured below, looking outrageously gorgeous, was Alecta. Credit for the shot was given to Scufalo, probably the most famous photographer of the day.

I was truly happy for her and smiled as I walked by. I thought, who knows, maybe we'll run into each other someday. Of course the likelihood of that happening was pretty remote. She traveled in different circles than I did, these days. Oh well, I can always say I knew her...of course no one would ever believe me.

I had been at the studio for about fifteen minutes and was getting ready for the day when a very excited Marcy came bursting in from the side door. "Shayne, did you see this?" she almost screamed while waving her copy of Vogue around in her hand.

"Yeah, I'm happy for her," I said. I was a little surprised at her enthusiasm. Marcy had been a little antagonistic toward Alecta because she never came back and worked with us again.

"That's it! You're happy for her? Did you read the article?"

"No, I just saw the cover on the way in."

"Shayne, they interviewed some of the newest top models in the business. Alecta's is the very first one. Shayne, the whole thing is about you."

"What?" I wasn't sure I heard her right.

"She talks about how you discovered her when she was a check in girl for the motel. She tells how you worked with her and taught her everything she knows. She says she thought of you as a second father because you always looked out for her and protected her. AND," she emphasized the word, "she says, while working with some of the finest, most talented photographers in the world, she felt you were equally as talented. She even mentions me."

"Let me see that," I said, reaching for the publication. I sat on a stool and read. Sure thing, it was all there. I had gotten a lot of accolades in my career, had a lot of clients who praised my work, but never had I ever gotten this kind of acclaim.

"What do you think of her now?" I asked my grinning assistant.

"Hey, I always liked Alecta," she sheepishly replied. I just laughed.

The first call came from Victor, congratulating me. He said he was a little jealous that she didn't even mention him but he thought I deserved everything she said. I thanked him. Wow, I thought.

His call was followed by several more from lessor renowned people but every one made me feel good. About three o'clock in the afternoon I answered my cell and heard a voice I hadn't heard in months.

"Hi, Shayne."

"Stacy," she sounded a lot better than the last time I talked to her. "Hi, how are you?"

"I'm okay. Boy," she said with a slight chuckled, "when I mess up I really mess up, don't I. If I hadn't been so stupid I'd be married to a world famous photographer."

It was my turn to chuckle. "Sorry to burst your fantasy there, but I'm still the same old hard working photographer you've always known."

"You won't be for long," she countered. "I think that model you helped just launched a whole new career for you. I just wanted to call and congratulate you, Shayne. You truly deserve everything good that comes your way. You're a great photographer and an even greater person."

I still cared for that woman. I knew that because her call meant more to me than all the others combined. "Thank you, Stacy. I also want to wish you the best. I understand you have a new man in your life."

"Ha, ha," I could visualize her laugh as she spoke. "I see the information highway goes both ways when it comes to our friends," she chuckled. "They've been dropping little tidbits here and there about you, too. I am dating someone. His name is spencer. He's an inside salesman where I work. He's really a nice man, Shayne, you'd like him."

"Well, I meant it when I said I wish you the best, Stacy."

"Thanks, Shayne."

With that we said our goodbyes. Hearing her voice made me remember some of the good times we shared. I could close my eyes and visualize her nude body standing in front of me. I could smell her scent, feel the softness of her skin...taste her nectar. The deep emotional love I once felt; however, was gone, and with it was the anger and pain. She was right about one thing though, that article launched a whole new career for me.

From that day forward my life started to change dramatically. My first big break was shooting the cover for Chicago Magazine; then it was out to California for a swimsuit company. From there it was an editorial fashion shoot for Elle Magazine. Next it was back to the studio for a national ad campaign for Maybelline.

I moved Marcy up in rank from my assistant to my assistant photographer and hired three new assistants, two for me and one for her. I also had to invest in more equipment. I hated to do it but I shelled out forty two grand on one camera and that didn't include the lenses. They were another eighteen grand. Marcy was concerned about location shoots and not having the proper lighting so I invested in battery operated studio lights that we could take on location; two grand each...I got six, three for her and three for me.

Over the following months we were sent on assignment to Iceland, the Greek Islands, and London. Marcy and I were working with movie stars, super models, celebrities, and the elites of society.

It was a Thursday in mid-summer by the time we got back to Chicago. Aaron was waiting for us when we landed at O'Hare about mid-afternoon. I never saw two people who missed each other more. When they saw one another they both ran toward the other so fast I thought they'd collide and kill themselves. Aaron helped load all our equipment into the SUV but then I told them to take off. I said I could handle it from there. Marcy asked if I was sure. I just nodded my head and told her not to worry about work and take a three day weekend.