Unintended Consequences

No Burnt Bitches.

No Costly Reconciliations.

No Willing Cuckolds.

Not really breaking any new ground here, either. Just a story I enjoyed writing.

Have a Nice Day!

BG33

*****

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

When you make a choice, you choose the consequences.

*****

I had noticed them off and on throughout the evening.

Two black guys were hanging out in a booth and one of them would occasionally approach one of the other tables while guy number two stayed put and nursed his drink. Typically the tables the guy approached were all women. They'd say a few words and sometimes he'd leave quickly, but sometimes he'd pull out an envelope and show some documents or pictures; I couldn't tell which.

I assumed they were selling something, and I was surprised that the management hadn't put the kibosh on it. I mentioned it to the people I was with that night: Christy, my wife of 2 years, and our friends Chris and his wife Liz, and Heinz and his wife Kim. We speculated for a few minutes about what we thought they were doing and then put it behind us.

It was maybe 30 minutes later that guy number one finally approached our table. I assumed he had exhausted all of the tables that were exclusively, or at least primarily, female, and it looked like we were finally going to see what was going on.

"Good evening, folks. How are we all doing tonight?"

Our responses of 'great' and 'fine' came out as a jumble, and he just looked at each of us and smiled, and then continued his spiel.

"My friend over there is in town for the weekend on business and looking for a little company tonight and wanted to see if any of you ladies might be interested."

I was stunned at this guy's bravado. I mean really, to approach a table where each of the women if obviously spoken for and, right in front of their men, ask if they'd like to go off somewhere and have sex with his buddy. I was just about to let him know exactly how I felt and where he could go when Liz took the lead.

"And just why would any of us want to do something like that?" she asked.

"Well, you see my friend is something of a freak of nature. He has an 11-inch dick that's really thick and he knows how to use it, so I thought one of you might be interested in taking it for a spin."

The girls were all but laughing at him at this point, but he seemed entirely unaware. Perhaps all of the rejection had made him immune to it. It was Kim that took the next step and probably really caused the problems that were about to follow.

"And how do we know he's really that well equipped?"

The guy pulled out the well-worn envelope that he had been using all night, and we finally got to see what was in it. He took out several pictures, all apparently of his friend and all making it quite evident that he had not exaggerated his friend's endowment. At this point all of us guys were letting the girls have their fun and waiting for them to send this asshole packing.

The girls were visibly impressed by what they saw in the pictures; they 'oohed' and 'aahed' loudly, almost comically, and Chris, Heinz, and I were amused at how they were working this guy. Then he made the big offer.

"So, what do say, ladies? Any takers? You won't regret it!"

Liz and Kim just shook their heads and giggled while handing the guy back his pictures, which he slid back into the envelope. It looked like he was about to go on his way and try his luck somewhere else when he stopped and looked at Christy. Maybe he saw something in her eyes he had seen before, but he made a point of specifically asking her again.

"What about you, little lady? I didn't see you shake your head."

I sat there confidently, and dumbly as it turned out, waiting for Christy to put this guy in his place, so when she spoke I wasn't really paying attention to her as much as I was watching for his reaction. But his reaction was not what I expected. Instead of a frown or even a straight face, he burst into a huge grin and walked around to where Christy was sitting. It took a moment for my brain to process that she had said "I'll go."

By the time I got my wits about me he had whisked her away from the table and was walking her toward the exit. I don't know if they had a signal or guy number two just knew the signs, but he was already headed for the door as well.

Our friends were seemingly as shocked as I was. It looked like they were trying to say something to Christy but no sound was coming out. As shocked as I was I did manage to take some action, and they got about halfway to the door before I took hold of Christy's arm and pulled her away from him.

"Just what in the hell do you think..." I started, before a hand about twice the size of mine that was attached to an arm that was the biggest one I had ever seen grabbed my arm, squeezing so tight I had to let go of Christy.

"Sorry pal," the behemoth said, "but I can't have you manhandling the ladies."

"This is my wife," I objected. "I'm just trying to stop her from leaving with these guys."

His grip on my arm never loosened; he knew he had me well under control. I was a decent sized guy but this guy was NFL offensive lineman-big and clearly had the strength to match as well. He simply turned to Christy.

"Ma'am, are you leaving of your own free will?" he asked her.

Christy looked at me, mouthed what appeared to be the words 'I'm sorry', and then said to the bouncer that she was indeed leaving of her own free will.

He turned back to me, the pity evident in his eyes.

"Look pal, I'm sorry about whatever is going on here in your marriage, okay, but my job is to make sure there's no violence. She says she's leaving with them on her own and as long as you're on our property I can't have you putting your hands on her like that."

He was still holding me when she got up on her tiptoes and whispered something in his ear. He gave her a strange look, then looked back at me, and then back to her again.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" he asked her.

Christy looked back at me and then seemed to make an internal decision, then turned back to the bouncer with more confidence than she had shown this entire evening, said 'Yes, I'm sure.' With that she turned and walked toward the guys, who were patiently waiting by the door to see how this played out.

"Christy, stop, come back!" I desperately called but she never wavered. I could only watch as she joined up with the two men and headed out the door.

I assumed that as soon as they were out the door that Man Mountain here would release me and I could chase them down, because I had no intention of letting this happen if I could help it. So as soon as the door closed I tried to pull away, only to find myself still firmly held in place.

"What the hell, man? They're off your property so let me go."

I was fruitlessly pulling against him, trying to break free but making absolutely no progress. Finally I stopped and looked at him with a 'Well?' look on my face.

"Look man, I really am sorry, but she asked me to hold you here for another few minutes so you couldn't follow them, and the parking lot is still technically our property."

With the realization that not only had Christy voluntarily gone away with these two guys to get fucked but had asked the bouncer to hold me back, all of the fight drained out of me. Our friends were standing there waiting to see what would happen, still seemingly in shock at the evening's turn of events.

After a couple of minutes the bouncer gently released my arm, and I could actually feel the blood start to flow through my veins again when he did so. I simply collapsed on to the floor, briefly catching the look of pity on the bouncer's face before he turned and walked away. I hadn't noticed before, but the sound level in the bar had dropped to nothing as my drama unfolded. Realizing the show was over, the peripheral conversations slowly resumed.

I sat on the floor completely devastated, tears rolling down my face that I hadn't been aware of before. How could she had done something like this? Didn't I make her happy? Wasn't I enough for her? Obviously the answers were no, and that realization gave me something actionable.

Chris and Heinz helped me to my feet and led me back to our table, where Kim and Liz tried to soothe the pain I was feeling at Christy's abandonment and humiliation of me, but then I looked up and saw Christy's empty chair and I was galvanized into action. I tossed $40 on to the table and turned for the door.

"Wait, you're leaving?" asked Kim.

"Of course. There's no reason for me to stay here, and besides I've got things to do."

"What about when Christy gets back?" Liz contributed.

"What about it?"

"Aren't you at least going to wait...to make sure she's okay?"

"No, but I'm sure she'd appreciate one of you taking her in for the night. I need to go."

As I walked away I heard the girls asking the guys to stop me, and the guys saying 'no way, not after what she did'. I kept my eyes focused on the door, not wanting to see how sorry for me everyone in the bar was.

I managed to get to my car before the emotions overwhelmed me again. I got dizzy and very nearly passed out, so I just sat in the driver's seat for several minutes until I felt well enough to drive home. As I sat there, I thought how ironic it was that her impulsive nature had been one of the things that attracted me to her in the first place.

I was about halfway back to our apartment when my phone rang with Christy's number on the caller ID. My first thought was that she had changed her mind and needed my help so I answered the call without any niceties and went right to trying to help her. It turns out I was wrong.

"Where are you, Christy? I can come get you. Which hotel and what's the room number."

"Henry, baby..."

Thinking she doesn't want me to go to the room I change my tack.

"Can you get away? Just give me the hotel and I'll pick you up outside."

"Honey, please listen to me. Baby, I'm not leaving. I want to stay and I'm going to. I just wanted to call and tell you that I hope you understand this has nothing to do with you or how much I love you. It's just something I have to do, and I'd like you tell me you understand and that it's okay."

"Christy, please don't do this!"

"I have to, Henry, but it won't hurt us. It's just one time and it won't be anything but sex. I promise."

At this point I was completely numb. Not only did she walk out on me in front of our friends and an entire bar, but now she calls me to rub my face in it and has the gall to ask me to tell her I'm okay with it. I couldn't believe the woman I had fallen in love with was treating me like this. I realized that there was nothing worth fighting for, so I told her I understood, but I meant it far differently than she thought I did. She was clearly excited.

"Oh thank you, baby, thank you. I'll see you as soon as I'm done and I'll spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you."

With that the call disconnected, and all of the sadness and depression I was feeling suddenly went away. I had blocked out the love I had for her just a few hours before and it was replaced by a grim determination to put this behind me.

As soon as I got to my apartment I pulled out my luggage (we each had our own set from before we were married) and spread all 3 suitcases out on the bed. We didn't have much stuff, and what was mine was far less than what was Christy's. I believed it would all fit in these 3 cases, but if not I was pretty sure anything I needed to leave behind wouldn't be missed.

I took my time. I had no plans to simply disappear. In fact, I was looking forward to her feeling as much pain when I walked out the apartment door as I felt when she walked out of the door of the bar and she would have to be here for me to experience that.

I had 2 suitcases completely full and was midway through the last one and I was beginning to think I'd have to actually wait for her when I heard the front door open and then shut quietly. I guess she saw the lights were on so knew I was awake and she called to me.

"Have a good time?" I called. I guess I hadn't injected as much sarcasm as I thought because she answered as if she was just coming back from a party or something.

"Oh God, did I ever."

She walked through the bedroom doorway and I glanced back at her. Her hair and makeup was a mess and her clothes looked a little worse for wear. She looked, in the parlance, well-fucked. The smile on her face quickly faded when she saw me packing.

"What...what're you doing, baby?"

"Moving out and filing for divorce."

She came over to me and tried to stop me from putting anything else into the suitcase, and I wrapped my hand around her wrist and removed it. It reminded me of the bouncer grabbing my arm and I was suddenly pissed all over again.

"Don't...fucking...touch me!"

"But Henry, you said you understood that this was just a one-time thing that I needed to try, and then I'd be all yours."

"No, what I understood was that you were going to fuck those guys no matter what I said or how I felt, so there was no point in wasting my time talking about it anymore. You did fuck both of them, right? Not just mister big dick?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, it wouldn't have been fair to leave Desmond hanging after he did most of the work."

"Of course. Wouldn't want the asshole preying on married women to suffer." This time my sarcasm could be seen from space.

"Baby, please don't leave me. I just had always wanted to try one that big but I never had the chance before we met. Plus, I've never been with a black guy before. When Desmond showed me the picture I just couldn't stop myself from going for it. But now I've done it and it's over and I'm yours forever, and I'll do anything to make it up to you."

"First of all, Christy, you were already supposed to be only mine forever. That was part of that whole wedding thing a couple of years ago. So you promising it to me again after breaking that promise once already means nothing. And just how exactly do you 'make up' something like this? Do you have any idea how inadequate this all makes me feel? But I'll give you a chance: just tell me the hotel and room number where they took you and I promise I'll think about putting this behind us. No guarantees, though."

"I'm sorry, baby, but I won't tell you that."

I resumed my packing. "So much for doing anything to make it up to me."

"Honey, please. If I tell you where they are you'll go do something dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt. After all, there are two of them and besides, they aren't worth getting into trouble over."

"That's not your decision to make, Christy. I'm the one that gets to decide what I'm going to do and what it's worth. So I'll ask you one more time: hotel and room number?"

"I'm sorry, baby, but when we got married I promised to protect you and I will, even from yourself. I won't let you get hurt."

"Unless you're the one doing the hurting, apparently." That seemed to strike home as intended. "Fine, Christy, but just remember that this was your choice."

I finished packing even as Christy continued trying to get me to stop and stay with her, though she no longer tried to stop me physically.. No matter how many times I told her I wouldn't stay with her she kept trying to convince me it was just sex and something she had to do but she loved only me. When she finally got to the classic 'it meant nothing' I had had enough.

"Well it God damn well meant something to me, Christy! Our sex life was very precious to me. I didn't realize it meant so little to you, but it was one of the things that made you special, that I was the only one that got to experience your body, and you just gave it away. And not only that, you did it in the most humiliating way possible. We were out with our best friends, for God's sake!"

"I know that, baby, and I'm sorry, but I swear it'll never happen again. I just went a little crazy there for a while. But now I've done it and it's out of my system!"

"But what else is there?"

"What do you mean?"

"What else is there that you haven't tried that you might 'just have to' one day? A threesome? A gang bang? Pulling a train? Taking on the offense from the local fucking college! God damn, Christy, I can't believe that you did what you did. That entire fucking bar was just staring at me with pity and shame while you walked out of there without even looking back at me!"

She was openly crying by this point.

"If I looked back I don't think I would have been able to go through with it, and I was determined. But please, baby, baby, please don't leave me! I love you so much."

"If that's how you express love I'm not interested. Frankly even if you had told me where to find them there was no way I was going to stay. I may one day forgive you, Christy, but I will never ever forget what you did and, more importantly, how it made me feel."

It took 2 trips but I got my suitcases loaded into my car and drove away. When I went back the second time Christy was still collapsed on the floor. All she could manage was to look up at me as I came in and mumble "please, please don't go, baby. Please."

Despite what had happened, what she had done, I still felt like a complete asshole leaving like this. It didn't cause me to reconsider, but I still felt bad. I assumed that was because, while there was no way I could still be with her, I still sure as hell still loved her.

*****

I was disoriented when I woke up in the hotel. I had been more tired than I thought. I guess the adrenaline wore off and once it did I crashed hard. It was nearly noon before I woke up. Fortunately I had paid for two days in advance, but I knew our...my...the bank account wouldn't support a hotel stay for long. I needed a place to stay.

One problem was the three months left on the lease of the apartment Christy and I had shared. There certainly wasn't enough to pay for that AND a new apartment, so I'd have to decide whether or not to just take the hit and abandon the apartment or come up with some other plan.

The fact was that Christy and I had very little in terms of assets. We each had a car in our names and payments to go with them, so that was likely a wash. The bank account was small and beyond that was just the furniture we had bought, and I didn't particularly care for it. I didn't hate it; I just didn't care.

I hated to put any of the other couples into the middle of things, but Chris and Heinz had been my best friends for years, predating all of our wives. Chris and Liz had been married for 5 years, Heinz and Kim for almost 4. Christy and I had been the last ones to join that particular club. I finally managed to turn my phone back on, finding lots of messages from Christy and several from the guys and their wives. Mostly they were urging me not to do anything rash, and one message from Chris offering to do anything they could to help spoke to me. So I called, getting Liz on the phone, and asked for marital sanctuary.

"I'll make you a deal, Henry. You can stay in our guest room for a while, but I won't hide you from Christy. She's been driving everyone crazy asking if we've heard from you. I'll let her know you're here and that you're okay, and I expect you to be at least civil to her. Yes, she made a mistake, but she didn't murder anyone so let's keep it all in perspective, okay?"

I agreed to her terms and spent the next morning moving from the hotel to their spare room. My boss was okay with me taking the morning off, as long as I stayed late some night this week to make up for it. Such compassion!

I went ahead and worked late that night to get it out of the way, and it had the added bonus of distracting me from the weekend's events. It was nearly 10:00 when I pulled up to Chris and Liz's house. I was tired and ready for some decent rest. Of course, that didn't happen.