The Weekend Pt. 01

I spent most of the rest of the day walking around, refining and editing my idea. The idea of using a Monopoly card was a no go, primarily because I couldn't find a damn Monopoly game anywhere. At last I ended up in a local jewellers where I found a gold heart locket with a small diamond set into it. I had the jeweller engrave inside on one side the words,

'ONE FREE

PASS'

and on the opposite side,

Whatever you need

to do

No questions asked

No recriminations.

I love you

I had the jeweller attach it to a gold chain and place it in a fancy box.

It was late afternoon as I made my way back to our villa. I must have looked in that damn box a dozen times on my way. Each time I was racked with indecision. Was I doing the right thing or was it going to come back and bite me sometime in the future, shit I'd find out then. I'd barely walked up the steps to the veranda before I was attacked by her two flat mates.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Cindy snarled. "She's been frantic, she thought you'd left her. The others are searching all over."

"And you didn't think to check if my bags are still here." I replied. "Or that my passport is still on the bedside table. God damn it Cindy you're supposed to be her friend. All you had to do is open your eyes and you'd have known I hadn't gone. You can guess that I had a lot of serious thinking to do."

"But why are you doing this to her?" Jill asked.

The frustrations of the last days surfaced. "For fucks sake, I'm not the one who said 'no,' and ripped my heart out."

"But she didn't say no."

"She damn well didn't say yes, I think I might have noticed that response, and she'd have a ring on her finger. Look just fuck off will you, I need you all to disappear so I can talk to her in private. Where is she?"

Cindy and Jill looked at me earnestly for a few moments before nodding, pointing at our room, and leaving. As Cindy left she said, "You better not hurt her."

"What, any more than she did to me!" I called after her. The villa settled into silence after my parting words. I sounded bitter, and resolved to fix that attitude immediately.

I found Karen huddled on the bed dressed only in an old tee-shirt of mine clutching my yesterday's dirty tee-shirt to her. Her eyes were puffy and she looked all cried out. She looked up when she heard me enter the room, hope flashing across her face.

I sat on the edge of the bed and she crawled across to me. "I thought that you'd left me," she whispered.

"I just needed some time to think," I told her. "I said we'd talk today and we are going to. But first I have a couple things I'd like to give you."

I held out my hand and opened it reviling my grandmother's ring.

"Yes, yes, yes," she cried wrapping her arms around me in a bear hug that threatened to stop me breathing. "I promise to be the best wife you could ever imagine."

"There's something else," I said and she relaxed her grip on me, giving me a worried look.

"What?" She said nervously.

"This," I said and I held out the box containing the heart.

She opened it and lifted the locket out, she looked at it then opened it and saw the engraving. She carefully read the inscriptions on the inside. Then she looked at me and tried to read my expression. I kept my face still. She looked down again at the open locket in her hand and reread the inscriptions.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" She whispered.

"If you think it means I'm offering you one chance to stray in the future without any arguments or recriminations then you're right."

She looked at me with wide open eyes. "You...you would do this for me? I can't believe I would ever ... you would forgive me, God I don't deserve your love." She clutched me tight, kissing me with a passion that was almost painful in its intensity.

"I understood what you were feeling when you said I was more experienced than you. I realised I didn't want to lose you if you ever decided to experiment in the future. There are some rules though," I said. "Should you decide to use it then you must practice safe sex and have yourself tested afterwards. Then you have to give it back to me so I can destroy it. One time means just that Karen. One time only or we're done."

She looked at me with her wide innocent eyes, "I'm never going to use it, but I understand love." She pulled me from the bed and dragged me into the bathroom. "Can we shower and then find the others to tell them the good news."

She attacked my clothes virtually ripping them off me before shedding her tee-shirt. She drew me into the shower with her and stood in front of me, her lithe body glistening in the spray of cool water.

"I said I will be the best wife ever," she said seductively.

She sank to her knees and stroked my cock as it grew and saluted her. When it reach the perfect size she swallowed the crown and gave me the best blow job I'd ever had. I tried to warn her as I reach the point of no return but she refused to let go. Sucking and swallowing all my cum as I emptied myself into her waiting mouth. She looked up at me with a broad grin plastered across her face and opened her empty mouth to prove she'd swallowed all of my essence.

"I will never spit out your gift to me," she told me proudly.

I pulled her up and she laughed in happiness as she pressed her delicious body against mine.

"You're a greedy minx," I told her; "aren't you ever going to share?"

She shook her head, "Nope, it's all mine; God I love you so much."

We made it to the bar a couple of hours later where we were greeted with looks of concern until Karen proudly moved her hand from behind her back where she had hidden it and showed them the ring on her finger. Around her neck she wore the locket. She'd cut up a pair of photographs of me she had found her purse and had stuck them in the locket hiding the inscriptions.

She'd said as she did it, "It's to remind my just how much you love me and I don't think I'm ever going to take it off. I just have to open it and I'll know why marrying you will be the best thing I ever do."

~~~~~~~~~<>~~~~~~~~

Interlude: Almost the present.

So we fast forward almost ten years, and Karen and I are still very happily married. Karen is no longer the stunning young woman I'd asked to marry me. She has morphed into the most beautiful thirty-one year old and even after all these years I had to pinch myself every time I woke up beside her. We had discussed children and although we both wanted them we decided to put it off for a couple of years. She still wore the locket but I'd almost forgotten what it represented, in my mind it was just a symbol of our love.

Four years ago I was offered a position as senior lecturer in molecular biochemistry at Cambridge. A move back to academia and the environment I'd loved. Karen knew how I felt and actively encouraged me to take the position. Last year I was offered the chair of the department. We moved to a small cottage in a village close to the city. Karen's company had grown and expanded in to publishing. It was now located in Epping, north of London, twenty five miles away. As they didn't want to lose her, she was offered a promotion to become their marketing director. The job came with a great pay rise, stock options and a BMW X5 as her company car.

With me Karen was the most passionate wife, companion, and lover. So I was intrigued to discover at her company's Christmas party that behind her back her male staff called her the 'Iron Lady' (a homage to Margaret Thatcher, a no nonsense Prime Minister from the 1980's).

Her assistant explained it to me one time when she'd had more wine than was good for her.

"She chops off any attempt to flirt with her at the knee. She's ruthless at sales pitches if the client tries to get fresh. But when she talks about you all you can hear is the love in her voice."

So she's the 'Iron Lady' I mused; one of these days I'll have to tease her with that.

As the chair of the department I was expected to attend a fair number of university functions each year. Fortunately Karen enjoyed attending them which made an onus task extremely pleasant. I loved watching her cutting down to size the inevitable cock hounds who graced every event. I have no idea what it is about my fellow academics, but give them a couple of glasses of that God awful wine they always served on these occasions; and stir in the presence of a beautiful woman, and it always brought the worst out in them.

One night it was the turn of a visiting American professor. He'd arrived the day before and I was yet to meet him. The party was a meet and greet affair for him, and I was running late. I'd called Karen and she said she'd meet me there. When I arrived I saw her in conversation with the Dean and a second man in his late forty's. She'd seen me arrive and she gestured to her empty glass so I headed to the bar.

I'd been waiting to be served when the Bursar spoke to me.

"I see our American visitor has found your beautiful wife."

"Is that who he is? I was surprised to hear he'd agreed to join us for a year."

The Bursar laughed, "Not that surprising, he's in the midst of a messy divorce. I think our offer came at an opportune moment."

I caught the barman's eye and managed to acquire a couple of glasses of a decent Chablis I knew he had hidden behind the row of the usual plonk. As I made my way over to Karen I could see that she'd been cornered by our guest of honour. I walked up behind him and stood there listening to his technique.

He'd obviously been explaining how important he was and what important research he would be undertaking. And she'd been making the appropriate interested sounds at the opportune moments

"And are you going to be visiting our quaint little town for long?" She was asking as she saw me and gave me a quick smile. I put her glass down on the table beside her and sat down on one of the chairs and waited for the fun to begin.

He looked around to see who she'd smiled at but I had my back to him as I settled down. "I'm going to be here for the next year," he said. "Maybe I can convince you to show me around?"

"Oh, and you think that would be appropriate? I am married."

"He's not much of a husband if he leaves you to fend for yourself. I think I need to look out for you. I understand he's a lecturer here?"

There was ice in her eyes as she replied, "My husband trusts me, and I never need 'looking out for', as you quaintly put it. And yes he's a lecturer here, he's the chair of the molecular biochemistry department, aren't you darling." She looked over at me and I turned in my seat and offered her, her glass.

~~~~~~~~~<>~~~~~~~~

And then:

Karen looked at me across the kitchen table with a look of shock and a hint of fear in her eyes. I looked down at the broken wine glass in my hand. There was no pain but the shard of glass protruding from my palm was glistening with red blood.

"Shit, Neil what have you done?"

"Fuck!" I moaned as the pain hit me.

"Neil, please forget I said anything," Karen cried.

I groaned as I pulled the shard of glass from my flesh and grabbed at a clean tea towel to staunch the flow of blood.

I looked across the half eaten meal at her white face and tried to put into context the last few minutes.

There had been no warning. We'd gone away for the previous weekend to our little cottage on the coast. We'd spent the time recovering from the stress of our jobs or more accurately Karen was recovering from the stress of a unexpected weeklong sales conference in Chicago. I'd picked her up from the airport on the Saturday morning and we'd spent the weekend reaffirming our love.

Early Wednesday evening she'd served up my favourite seafood linguine for dinner. We sat at the table on the terrace and I'd poured us each a glass of a nice crisp white wine. I'd just taken a sip when she asked.

"Neil, do you trust me?"

I gave her a puzzled look, "I've always trusted you, why?" I replied.

"Do you love me?"

"Is this a trick question?"

"I'm serious."

"I love you just as much as I loved you yesterday, and the day before that and the one before tha..."

"Ok, ok I just needed to know that you loved me."

"I guess that means I should ask you the same thing?"

She looked at me seriously, "I not only love you but I love you more that ever. You are the one thing that makes me complete."

She swallowed and said, "Which is why this is so difficult to say."

There was a long pause then she said softly. "There's something I need to do this weekend. I need you to let me do it, and trust me that it won't affect the way I feel about you."

She held out her hand and opened it slowly to reveal her heart locket. I looked at it blankly, my mind not totally comprehending the implications. Then it hit me, she wanted to cheat on me. After all these years she'd finally decided to use her free pass. Christ I'd thought that she'd forgotten all about it, I know I'd only rarely remembered what the locket truly signified.

My mind went blank and in the distance I heard the sound of breaking glass and a scream.

~~~~~~~~~<>~~~~~~~~

"No." I smacked my hand down on the table then gingerly lifted it up as a shearing pain lanced across the palm. Fuck, there must still be some glass in the wound. There was a perfect impression of my hand in blood on the table top. Both of us looked at it in horror.

Karen started to stand, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Sit down," I said, a lot quieter that I thought I would sound.

"But your hand."

"My hand's not important, I think you wanting to go away this weekend to get fucked is a bit more important than anything else in the fucking entire world right now."

She hunched up at the tone of my voice. Then ignoring my words she fetched the first aid kit from the larder. She sat down and grasped my wrist, turning the hand palm up and inspected the cut.

"Ignore it," I said, "I need to understand exactly what you want to do and why?"

"Shut up, I can see some glass, I need to remove it." She used the tweezers and deftly removed a small sliver of glass. I winced as she sprayed antiseptic on the wound before closing it with a couple of steristrips. She wrapped a bandage around my hand and then she looked up at me.

"Why?" I asked. "Is it something I've done, or not done? I thought you loved me."

The tears she'd wiped away earlier reformed in her eyes. "I love you more than I've ever done. Please Neil, forget I asked," she pleaded.

"No, you can't do that to me. There has to be a reason you want to fuck someone else. Are you bored with me?"

"I never said I wanted to fuck someone. I just ..."

I interrupted, "Then why the locket?"

"Because what I was going to do stretched the boundaries of our fidelity, and I couldn't lie to you."

"And what do you want to do?"

She looked at me desperately, her eyes pleading with me to understand. "I can't tell you, but I was going to fulfil a promise I made to someone I knew before we got engaged."

"That's not good enough. If you expect me to let you go with no recriminations I need to know who and why?"

Her eyes where full of tears, "It doesn't matter I'm not going to do it. It would hurt you too much."

"Who and why?" I repeated.

"I can't tell you, I made a promise, please understand."

"Damn it, Karen you can't sit there and pretended that nothing's just happened. You made a decision to be unfaithful, and even if you don't go through with it I'm always going to wonder what it was that was so important you'd risk our marriage. And..."

I stopped at that point as the true reality of the situation hit me. Regardless of what I thought, I'd already given my permission, she thought she wasn't risking our marriage. I looked down at the locket sitting abandoned on the table where Karen had dropped it. I picked it up in my good hand and clenched it tight, the knuckles turning white with the effort. I slowly relaxed my hand and opened the locket and looked at the inscription I'd had engraved all those years ago.

'ONE FREE

PASS'

I'd made the offer and I had to honour it even though it threatened to tear my heart out.

"When are you going?" I said softly.

"I'm not, it's hurting you too much. I can't risk our marriage"

I shook my head. "That's not the point, I gave you my word all those years ago. I know I hoped that you would never take me up on it." I held out the open locket and dropped it into her open hand.

I went on, "But I meant what I said all those years ago, 'Whatever you need to do. No questions asked. No recriminations. I love you'. So again when are you going and when can I expect you back? Forgive my earlier outburst; I'd almost forgotten about the Free Pass."

"Neil, please let's just forget all about it."

I shook my head, "You made a promise, as I did, and I intend to keep mine."

She looked at me shaking her head, both hands outstretched seeking reassurance, but at that moment I couldn't touch her. I had to get out of the house to clear my head. I picked up my car keys and ignoring her words of protest, hurried out of the house.

It was a warm sunny evening in late June but I felt chilled. The sun was still well above the horizon as I drove aimlessly along winding country lanes. The phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it. I finally found myself in a small village. I stopped outside a white painted pub. The conversations ceased as I entered, and irrationally I thought that they knew all about me. Stupid I know but that how paranoid I was feeling. I pasted a smile on my face, ordered a pint and found a quiet corner to hide in.

As the alcohol began to infuse my veins I started to take stock of my life. Until a few hours ago I thought I had a wonderful marriage, and a wife that loved me.

A second pint appeared miraculously in front of me and I sipped the amber liquid. Was I going to leave Karen? Don't be silly I told myself. This whole damn situation is your own fault. You're behaving like a spoilt child that's had his favourite toy taken away. But why after all these years did she feel the need to taste forbidden fruit. She seemed as eager and as enthusiastic as ever when we made love and whilst we were no longer fucking like bunnies we still made love most nights.

Did she want an affair? That didn't make sense, one time wasn't an affair, and that's all the agreement allowed. I suppose the thing that hurt the most was she wouldn't talk to me about it. We had no secrets as far as I knew. Every time she got hit on she'd tell me about it, often in excruciating detail.

My musings were interrupted by the bell for last orders, if I had another drink I'd be over the limit and with the way this night was going, I was sure to get stopped by the local plod.

I took my empty glass over to the bar.

"You alright lad?" The grey haired bar man asked. "Do you want one for the road?"

"If I do then it won't be one for the road, I can't risk losing my licence."

He gave me a deep look. Then said, "We've a couple of rooms we rent out if you want a place to stay? Thirty-five quid with breakfast thrown in."

"In that case I'll have a large scotch." And gave him my car keys.

~~~~~~~~~<>~~~~~~~~

George. Just why the hell are all genial hosts called George I wondered?

George said as he sipped from his glass. "So let me get this straight. In order to convince your wife to marry you. You gave her permission to cheat, but only once."

"Correct."

"So now you're just feeling sorry for yourself because she wants to take you up on your offer and go away for a weekend of passion."