The Coolest Chick I Knew

What kind of husband was I?

I turned to see Davita walk in behind me with her phone out, documenting the action.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I snarled at her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she gave it right back. "I think we'll both be needing this later."

"Why?" I asked, starting to move forward, desperate to break them up.

"Because this isn't what it looks like." she said, moving closer to get a better angle.

"Davita?" Brad croaked. "Oh fuck! How did you get in here? You're supposed to be with Hope and..."

She glared at him, and if there was a smile there, it wasn't one I'd ever want to see. He pulled out of Gloria and left her sprawled unceremoniously over the table. His cock didn't look any bigger than mine, the asshole. I think mine was longer and even a little fatter, even. She still had that same dumb smile on her face. She was really, truly out of it.

"Don't do it," Davita warned, grabbing my shoulder as she saw me moving towards Brad with murder in my eyes.

"Why not?" I gritted, trying to shake her off.

"Because, even with his pants around his ankles, he'll beat you to a bloody pulp. Unless you've got some MMA skills you didn't have before."

I stood there watching as Brad pulled up his pants. He looked upset, but it was obviously not fear of me that was causing it.

"Well, do you?" she demanded sharply.

"No," I admitted. A cuckold and a pansy. Fuck me!

"So, you get your wife out of here," she said, "Take her to your room, but before you do anything, ANYTHING, you have to talk to me."

"Yeah, okay," I muttered, moving over to Gloria, who had fallen into a stupor. That goddamn smile was still on her face. Fuck!

I picked her up and slung her over my shoulder. She was dead weight. Totally gone. Brad caught my eye and he dropped his worried look for a moment to show me self-congratulation. Victory. I turned to leave in disgust and shame.

"I mean it," Davita said. She pulled a card from her purse and stuffed it in my suit jacket pocket. "Call me as soon as you put her down."

"I will," I said as I walked down the hall, planning on doing nothing of the sort.

I got Gloria back to the room and laid her on the bed. After a moment's thought, I pulled her dress off and put her under the covers. I couldn't help it; I inspected her pussy while I did it. Not hard, since her panties were gone, if she'd even worn any to start with. To my relief, I saw there was no cum in there. I guess we interrupted them before that big event occurred, at least.

As I sat there and stared at her beautiful, ivory shoulders peeking out over the covers, I couldn't help but start to cry, and cry hard. What had happened to us? I thought things were perfect - okay, not perfect, but we had weathered the storm - and then she had to go and do this. Why had she let things get so out of hand? Why hadn't I done more to take care of her?

I don't know how long that went on, but at some point I heard a knock on the door that graduated to a pounding when I ignored it.

"Let me in, Rick," I heard Davita's voice say. "I'm going to make a scene until you do. I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay, okay," I grumbled, opening the door.

"You didn't call me," she said, walking in, barely bothering to glance at Gloria, who snored away without a care in the world.

"Sorry," I said.

"It's hard, isn't it?" she asked, reaching out to wipe away a tear from under my eye.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm about to make it either better or worse, maybe both, I don't know." she said, handing me a stapled sheaf of papers.

"What's this?" I asked suspiciously.

"Instructional reading," she said. "This is why I disappeared."

"I hope it was worth it," I said. "If you'd been around, maybe none of this would've happened."

"That is most definitely not true," she said. "and that's why I brought it."

"What is it?"

"His texts. He thinks he erases them, but they never leave the server. That's a good start, but it only gets me his end, so I have a snoop app on his phone. Software the PI set me up with. I've had it for some time, now. I haven't checked them lately. I wish I had."

"Because..."

"I'm sorry, Rick, just read them, but don't start at the beginning unless you want to see the whole sordid mess develop. That's too much for right now. Just go to page nine and start where I underlined."

"Page nine? There are that many? What am I going to find?"

"Just read it. It'll tell you everything. And I'm so, so sorry, Rick, I really am."

"So what are you going to do?" I asked as I showed her to the door.

"I'm obviously not staying in our room. I wasn't anyway. They have their poker game, remember?"

"Are they still doing that?" I asked, incredulously.

"What, stop the most important game in the world just because two marriages are imploding?" she asked, the contempt dripping. "I thought you played poker, Rick."

"Guess not."

"I was going to stay with Laura and Hope, but there's just no way now. Hope and I are going to have words. Laura too, probably. I got my own room, not that I'm going to sleep or anything."

"Me neither."

"You know," she said shyly, "you can come with me if you don't want to stay here with her."

"I think I'd like that, Davita, but..."

"It doesn't have to be anything like that, Rick," she said, giving me a peck on the cheek and turning away. "But it could be everything. You make that call if you want."

"I appreciate that."

"Not yet," she said as she walked away. "Just start on page nine. You won't feel any better, but at least you'll know."

~~~~~

After Davita left, I stretched out on the other bed and started reading page nine, just like she said. After I finished, I started over from the beginning and read it straight through to the end. She was right. It was too much, seeing what had developed, and right again when she said it was better to know.

"Wake up!" I said to Gloria, trying to shake her awake.

"Hmmm?" she groaned.

"Come on, whore," I snapped. "We're getting you out of here."

"What..." she was starting to stir a little. "What do you..."

"We're going."

"Don' wanna," she said in a baby girl voice and rolled over to fall back to sleep.

Fuck. Okay. It was going to be harder, but she was still going. I put her dress back on, zipped up her most obvious suitcase, and, after picking it up, slung her over my shoulder. Her dress rode up, exposing her to anyone who cared to look. Oh well.

Thankfully, there was no one in the hall as I hoisted Gloria to the elevator and out to the car. I found myself thinking the strangest thoughts. Poor Gloria, I thought, all that work to get your body toned and he didn't even bother to look at it. All he saw was your ass and the back of your legs. Your milky skin and exquisite body take time to be appreciated. Oh well, haste makes waste.

I tossed her in the back seat of my Lexus. It was night and the leather was like ice. She shivered with the cold, but I didn't give a fuck. I put her suitcase up front with me. If I'd put it in the trunk, I would have been reminded about the blanket we kept back there, but I doubt I would have covered her up anyway.

I looked at the clock display and got a little shock. It was only 12:15. I'd have thought dawn would be breaking any minute. This would make the drop off much easier, but I still needed to make the call.

"Hi Rick," her mom answered after several rings. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you guys tonight."

"I know, Karen. I'm sorry." I said. "I hope it's not too late."

"Well, a little, but that's okay. How was the reunion? We're still on for dinner here tomorrow, right?"

"I don't know," I mumbled. "Listen, I'm calling to give you a head's up. I'm headed your way. I'm dropping Gloria off with you."

"What? You're dropping her off? Why? What happened?" she paused and her voice got tighter. "She's not drunk, is she?"

"Well, yeah, but that's not..."

"What did she do?" Karen demanded.

"She screwed someone else," I said. "I don't want to be with her right now."

"She did WHAT?" Karen practically yelled. "I can't believe that. There has to be some sort of explanation."

"Oh, there is," I said sourly. "Don't you worry about that. I'll be there in fifteen."

~~~~~

She met me at the door. We didn't say a word as I carried Gloria upstairs to the spare bedroom and deposited her in the bed we'd shared so many times when we stayed over in happier times. I saw Karen eyeing her daughter and her rumpled dress.

I started to charge out the door back to the car, but she held my arm.

"Come back tomorrow." she said. "You two need to talk."

"Not interested." I said. "There's nothing to talk about. All she'll do is lie, anyway."

"You don't know that," she said. "You have to let her explain. Don't throw everything away, ten good years, over one mistake."

"I didn't throw a goddamn thing away!" I said loudly. I wasn't shouting, but my voice was intense, and she shrunk back.

"Sorry, sorry," I apologized. "I don't mean to take it out on you."

"It's okay," she said, patting my arm. "This is a tense time."

"Thanks."

"But, please, come back tomorrow. 12:30, like you were going to. Do it for me, if you won't do it for her."

"That's kind of dirty pool, Karen," I said. "Not fair. It's not like you."

"I know," she said. "It just shows how serious I am. Please come."

"Okay," I said. "You win. But only for you."

"Thank you," she said, taking my hand in both of hers and squeezing it warmly. "We'll figure this out."

"I have figured it out." I said.

~~~~~

On the way back to the hotel, I noticed that it wasn't even one o'clock yet. On a whim, I stopped by the ATM near the hotel and pulled out five grand. I had to shuffle things around and take a penalty, but I got it. I hoped to God they'd let me play.

I took a shower, scarfed down a power bar and drank some water. It's always best to be hydrated when you're staying up late. At 1:15, I headed over to room 607, cash in hand.

~~~~~

We sat around in an uncomfortable silence, waiting for the last player to arrive, who, of course, had to be Brad. He looked a little hangdog when he came through the door, but he lit up when he saw me.

"YOU'RE here?" he asked and started to laugh. "What, I take your wife, so you're coming here to take my money, defend her honor or something? That's just too rich."

"Just here for a friendly game," I lied. "I think we've established she doesn't have any honor, so don't worry about that. I think you're a dirtbag for what you did, but I've always thought you were, so why don't we play?"

"I don't think things are going to turn out like you think," Roger said. "We should just take your money and kick your ass out, but my wife would kill me."

"Well, you've still got a wife to kill you, so you're one up on me already." I said. "Just a friendly game, right? Don't worry, I'll leave the minute I get tapped out."

I ruined their game that night. I would have anyway, even without all our little drama. By forcing them to let me into the game, Roger's wife - Claire, I found out - had changed it from a friendly medium stakes game to an adversarial situation. They wanted me gone, but they also wanted my money, so we went ahead. It was tense for the first few hands, but after a while the old friends started talking smack, and it was just like the old days when I wasn't there, even when I was in the same room.

Do you like poker? I do. I'm dying to tell you how the night went, relive every hand, dazzle you with -how amazing I was, but this isn't a card story. Let me just say that there were seven of us; me, Brad, Dave, Roger, Kenny Kirk, who couldn't even look at me, and two other guys in their clique that I only vaguely recalled from back then. We gathered around the very table I'd pulled Gloria off earlier. Fortunately, it didn't smell like anything.

Faded into the background, I learned Brad usually cleaned up in these games. I think he expected that to happen tonight, but I started to suspect early on that he was holding a card or two and began to pay close attention to him. As the first game went on, I was sure of it. He was getting ready to lay one down when I caught his eye. He knew I knew and didn't dare play it, knowing I had every reason to burn him. He was forced to play an honest game.

I've played penny ante and seen players lose seventy-five dollars, so you'd better believe it's easy for a pot to get big when you buy in for five K. These guys told a lot of stories about what great players they were way back when, but they either weren't as good as they remembered it, very possible, they were still drunk, also possible, or they were out of practice. Probably a tasty combination of the three. It'd been a while for me, too, but I was straight sober and hadn't forgotten a damn thing.

Without his crutch, Brad turned out to be my favorite kind of guy to play against; all heart, no head, always holding a grudge. He was easy to bluff, and it was cake to manipulate him into one, which anybody could read ten miles off. By the time everyone called it quits, the only other person ahead besides me was Kenny, who pulled in a more than respectable fifteen hundred or so. Dave and a couple others were barely even or a little short, but the rest was mine. The best part? Twenty two grand of it was Brad's. That's right, Mr. Big Shot. What an idiot.

His big move, besides cheating of course, was over-betting to push everybody around. This group was inexperienced enough to roll over every time he tried it. I'd seen that shit before and called him down almost every time. I lost a few that way, but two of them were monster, monster pots. He kept making the same mistakes, not knowing how to quit when he was behind. He made one ridiculous, impossible bet after another as he tried to get back, demanding double or nothing side bets over and over. That can add up.

"Hey, wait a minute," he glared as we all started to cash out. "You don't get to just walk away without giving me a chance to win my money back."

"Brad, we're all done here," one of the others - Doug I think - said. He seemed overly concerned with making sure everybody got his chips in and got the right amount of money back. I think he remembered more about playing with Brad than he was saying.

"What about you then, cuck?" Brad asked me, smugly. "Does it make it all better to clean me out like this? It doesn't change what happened."

"Of course not," I said, giving him my best grin, "but it sure helps."

"So give me another chance. One hand, you and me."

"You've had plenty of chances already," I said, fanning my cash in his face. "Sorry, and besides, I don't think you have anything left to bet. I don't want your piece of shit car. Got a Rolex or something?"

"No, but I do have one thing you might like," he said, grabbing his phone and going out the door. "I'll be right back. Don't get up."

We all sat there in another one of those uncomfortable silences. Poor Kenny still couldn't look at me, so I amused myself by invading his personal space, staring daggers at him and watching him squirm.

"She won't talk to me," Brad said, coming back inside. "Dave, Rog, go down and get her. Bring her here. Don't take no for an answer."

"Do you mean we..."

"Just get her, Jesus." He turned to the rest of us as they left. "Guys, anybody here still smoke? Why don't we take a smoke break? Want something from the minibar? The little bottles are still cold, and I think there's some beer there."

"I'll take a water," I said.

"Course you will," he said, throwing me one. "No beer for you."

"It's almost dawn. I'm drinking water too," Doug said. "I think I'll be heading out, now."

"No, no. Hold on. Hold on." Brad said breezily. He seemed very comfortable for a guy who just blew twenty grand. "It's just getting good, now."

A few minutes later Dave and Roger reappeared, both of them literally strong-arming Davita inside.

"Brad, what the HELL is going on?" she shouted. "The only talking we're doing now is through my lawyer. Why did you have these assholes drag me up here?"

She looked around the room with some trepidation, realizing she was a woman alone in a hotel room with a bunch of guys, all friends with the one she was at odds with, until she saw me and visibly relaxed. She arched an eyebrow at me and I did the same. I had no idea what was going on.

"I don't know why I'm here, but you can..."

"Shut up." Brad said. There was menace in his voice and she backed down immediately. It was clear this wasn't the first time he'd intimidated her. He was a big guy. "Do you like the house?"

"What?"

"It's a simple question," he grated. "Do you like our fucking house?"

"It's going to be MY house before I'm..."

"Just shut UP," he said roughly. "Sit down. Got some news for you."

She came over and stood next to Kenny, who was sitting next to me. After a moment, even he got the hint and got up so she could take his place.

"Enrico and I have a big balloon payment coming up and we're not going to make it because of little Ulrich here," he told her. "The shop will probably go under."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I sort of borrowed fifteen large from the safe before we left on Friday," he said. "For the game. Which I lost."

"You did WHAT?" she asked, horrified. "He's going to kill you. Probably literally. How could you do that?"

"It's not my fault," he said. "I always win."

"You always cheat," I heard from somewhere. Probably Doug.

"So here's the thing," he went on. "Most of my half of the startup is the house."

"THE HOUSE?" she screamed. "How could you do that without my signature?"

He didn't say anything.

"Oh," she said weakly, tears running down her face. "I guess you're a cheat in more ways than one, aren't you?"

"Relax, there's a way out of this," he said. "and that's where you come in.

"Here's my proposal," he said, looking at me. "You and me, one hand, straight up. All the money you took from me against her."

"Her," I said.

"Me," she said. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"What she said," I said.

"It makes total sense," he said. "I fucked your wife, so now you can fuck mine. You've always wanted her. Everyone does."

"I'm not your wife anymore, you piece of shit," she replied angrily. "What makes you think..."

"Hold on," I said, touching her arm. "Brad, besides the absolutely repugnant nature of you pimping out this nice person..."

"Oh, she's a real..." he started to say.

"BESIDES how disgusting that is, "I cut over him, "I can't think of any screw that would be worth over twenty thousand dollars.

"I'm sorry, Davita," I said, turning to her. "You know how beautiful I think you are, but..."

"I thought it was fifteen, now it's twenty," she said. "You really are a loser, aren't you, Brad? And, don't worry, Rick," she said, giggling. "I don't think I'm worth that much, either."

"Maybe not one time," Brad said. "Kenny Kirk, how much for a time with someone that looks like her?"

"How would I know? I don't do that," Kenny said defensively.

"Oh, bullshit, we all know you do," said Brad to accompanying laughter around the room. I suddenly felt very sorry for Kenny. "Maybe you've never been able to afford someone at her level, but you damn sure know how much it would be."

"Well..." Kenny said, looking Davita up and down. "She's not that young anymore."

"Jesus Christ, I'm twenty-EIGHT!" Davita said, sounding hurt in spite of herself. "Let me out of here. This is degrading."

"A thousand," Kenny pronounced. "That seems about right."

"Okay, so you'd get her twenty-two times." said Brad. "That's more than fair. I only got your wife that once, and it was only three-quarters, really, since I didn't get to finish."

"This is insane. There's no way I'd do that." Davita spat. "Sorry, Rick, no offense."