Considering All Options

A/N -

I would like to present my offering for the second annual

Crime and Punishment 2024

story event. This story is a new category for me, Erotic Couplings. This story idea, like others, came to me while enjoying my favorite morning ritual, a cup of coffee. Here is my take on a little

Crime and Punishment.

Though this story is posted to the Erotic Couplings category, this story does contain sexual relations between a heterosexual couple, a Sapphic bisexual couple as well as a very loving MFF threesome. If this type of story isn't to your liking, I understand and I appreciate you stopping by.

This storyline as well as the characters and names are purely fictional. If there is a chance of any misrepresentation of reality, it is pure coincidence and not intended.

Any mistakes you see are mine; these eyes aren't what they used to be. Please enjoy and let me know what you think. Stars are nice but I do appreciate honest and constructive feedback in your comments.

***

Angie

I sat watching with the use of Athlon Optic binoculars as the same employee of the country club walked through the parking lot with the two gym bags, large gym bags, which were suspected to be full of cash and got in the same car he had for the last three times over the last nine months. Like clockwork, the last Sunday of every third month the transaction was completed.

Once in his station wagon he started it up and left the country club. He turned right out of the parking lot and headed west on SR 22 towards Cadiz and the Smithson Construction and Landscaping Company, just thirty-one miles away.

I followed him at a distance then parked and then snuck around the corner. Once hidden again, I watched as he pulled into the parking lot of the landscaping company and carried two gym bags inside. He came out and locked the gate behind him as he left. I sat there watching him thinking about it.

Mariam, my cousin from the bank, told me that on the last Monday of the quarter, just like clockwork, Carl Sr. carries in cash totaling more than four hundred thousand dollars into the bank just before it opens. He meets the bank manager, Albert Nelson, his old high school buddy from the 1955 graduating class, and then completes the transaction.

It took me almost a full year to figure out when they were doing this; almost a full year. For the last nine months, I have been working on my plan. I knew I had a few months to put the final details on my plan.

I am sure that the dirty, filthy cash was being laundered through the Country Club and then routed back through the landscaping company. From there it would filter to one of the other companies old man Smithson owned. One day soon, at least one load would become mine. Four hundred thousand dollars was more than ten times of what my annual salary as a secretary at the hospital; ten times!

Over a year ago, it was all over the news and the town's folks were still upset that the Country Club, which fifteen months ago was semi-private, was closing and being renovated. When the renovations were completed it would then become a by invitation, members only club. Rumors flew about something shady going on for them to afford it. We might be a bunch of coal mining hicks but we aren't without intelligence.

I knew what I needed to do and when I needed to do it. I just needed the perfect person or persons, someone I could believe in and someone I could manipulate and convince to do my bidding, assisting me.

Almost twelve months of sporadic vacation days up all night and day trying to figure it out. It started with a good skeleton plan but as time has gone on, I have put together a well throughout one, and it was time to go to work putting it in action.

In the end Carl Smithson Sr. would finally understand what his chicken shit son did to me and how bad my life turned out all because of his shit son. For the last eight years and for the rest of my life I suffer because of his stupid ass son. The same son who disappeared and at the hands of the bribed judge who should have but didn't have the wherewithal to throw his ass in jail forever.

That bastard Carl Jr. got lucky joining the Marines. At least he got out of this shit town.

I would make them understand what it is like to look in the mirror every day for the rest of my life. I wanted him to see and feel the pain I felt every day. I wanted them to know the terror I felt every day when I would dress and try to hide the pain, to hide the ramifications all the while causing more pain by putting on the fake smiles and pretend to live normally all the while I live in hell, knowing how I look to others.

I am going to take part of his life away from him, no not all of it, just enough to make Carl Sr. feel pain and agony every single day. And if he was fortunate, I would only do it once, maybe twice. I laughed a little when I thought about doing it twice, which was doubtful.

Yeah just one time would be enough, liken to the one time his chicken shit son wrapped his car around a telephone pole, just like the one arm I lost, just like the one side of my face that is permanently scarred. After three years of plastic surgery, just like his son did to me, I would make him suffer a bit of long lasting pain.

Sure, I got a settlement from his insurance but his sleazy insurance company and the crooked judge made sure that the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars I was awarded went to additional medical bills, not covered by my insurance or his. In other words when all was said and done, and after my rehabilitation, I saw thirty-five thousand in cash. That covered my salary for the time I was off work.

I just needed to find the perfect partner to help me and do this. I had an idea who, she was just brazen enough and frankly she was a kick ass woman, a good friend, and more. I knew together we could do it. I just needed her to believe in me.

For now, I would put on my best dress and heels and pretend as if nothing was wrong as I went through the druthers of my job every day as a secretary at the hospital.

***

Eddie

Summertime in our small town is the best ever! Why? Well what is so bad about sitting outside and enjoying a cup of coffee on my lunch or other break while enjoying the fresh air and the folks walking up and down the sidewalks of our cafe, just enjoying life?

There is just something about her that causes me to pause every time I see her. Some say she isn't the most beautiful woman to walk the sidewalks and the streets of our little town but I will disagree. She is one of the two women in this town who will make me stop dead in my tracks when I see either of them. My ears and more perk up when I hear the '

click clack'

of her heels against the concrete sidewalk.

She has stunningly beautiful and well-toned calves which are accentuated by the heels she wears. She has a beautiful figure, with womanly hips, and a slender waist. She has a true twenty-four carat diamond smile and the facial features which would make most models jealous.

She isn't rail thin; she has amazingly beautiful and lengthy chestnut brown hair which reaches midway down her back, hmmm. It is just the perfect length to grab a hold of while fucking her doggy style. Yeah, I know, in my dreams!

Believe me, I am not the only one to dream of fucking Angie Fisher. After all she does have a world class perfect ass, the perfect legs and amazing body as well as a lovely personality to go with it. Yep, Angie is one of the two most beautiful women in our town.

She is amazingly attractive, as well as down to earth; she is a special woman to walk the streets of our small town west of Steubenville, OH. She is kind and generous. She volunteers most weeks after working at the hospital on Wednesday nights at the Women's and Veterans Shelter.

That smile fires me up every time I see her, and does even more when we chat. You see I have known Angie for my whole life; we grew up down the street from each other. We went to school together and well, she was my first kiss, I mean it might have been when we were in seventh grade, but Angie Fisher was my first kiss.

Now that fact was never lost on Michelle, or Chelle as we call her, but that is a whole different story. I paid that price for months when she found out at the eighth grade dance but I will tell you more about Chelle later.

Those who say, and there are a few, that Angie isn't a beautiful woman any more, which I vehemently disagree with, are blind. I point the blame squarely at one Carl Smithson Jr. and the beat up old piece of shit 1973 Olive drab Barracuda he drove.

He thought he was the cat's meow, the cream of the crop and king shit. Well he was then and still is lower than whale shit in my opinion. He sank even lower when he drove that car on a snow covered road and wrapped the passenger's side of it against a telephone pole.

Yes that is right, that piece of ... well by now, you must know how I feel about him. He partially wrapped his car around a telephone pole injuring Angie, breaking several of her ribs, scaring her forehead, cheek and neck, as well as decapitating her right arm. It was torn right off her body at the ball and socket joint of her shoulder.

Some say it was her fault, losing her arm as she had it hanging out the window on a cold winter day. I call that bull ... you know what. I say it was his dumbass fault for driving so fast on a snow covered road.

Lower than whale shit.

Yes, even with all my success she still seems to be so far out of my league. She is untouchable, well unfuckable and absolutely unobtainable as a girlfriend or wife. Even after that one kiss, I knew right away but she wasn't a snob or anything, I wasn't the bad boy athlete she wanted.

But every so often when I have my coffee and I get to see her, even all these years later after high school, college and my Phar.D., she and Chelle are the two who stop me dead in my tracks and make me glad to call this place home.

I took the last sip of my coffee at the shop across the street, which isn't anything fancy. It is just a normal everyday coffee shop, just a plain ole joint. I looked at my watch and realized I needed to get back to work. I work at the Apothecary across the street.

So for now, that is my life in the small town, west of Steubenville. I am just a small town guy, a college graduate with all the hopes and dreams of one day again leaving this place and moving back to a city with a night life for a single successful man and a city with more than two stop lights. Literally, we only have two stop lights in our town.

A bit more about me if you do not mind. I did well enough in high school to graduate in the top five of my class. I played baseball and ran track. I wasn't allowed to play football, mom wouldn't allow it. She had seen too many boys in the ER all busted up to let me play.

So after high school I was off to the big city of Morgantown, West Virginia and WVU. I did well enough in the first two years of my chemistry undergrad to get accepted into the Pharmacy School. I finished my Phar.D. and was part of the graduating class of 1988. Yep at the ripe old age of twenty-five I was set for life and my career. I passed the NAPLEX, the North America Pharmacy Licensure Exam on my first try and was then licensed in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

I worked for eighteen months in the big city hospital but when my mother got hurt, I was called home. I moved the sixty miles home and well she needed me and I couldn't say no. She is my mother of course.

I am one of the two licensed Pharmacists who work here, I tend to know almost everything about everyone and well, I keep it all to myself. Gerald, the owner, pops in once or twice a week, the other pharmacist Nathan covers when I need a day off but he works every Saturday. He was a sort of mentor of my fatherless family as I grew up but he is close to retirement age. I am not sure how long he will work once he passes seventy.

And what about good ole piece of shit Carl? Well the Marine Corps got a hold of his young ass when the judge gave him an ultimatum. I hear he fared fairly well once they adjusted his attitude. He didn't come back for the five year Class of '82 High School reunion. Most of us attended, I mean come on there were only forty-three in our graduating class.

Oh no, I am not teasing you or ignoring Chelle. I will tell you all about her, in a bit, I promise.

***

It was just after five-fifteen in the evening when Mavis, my pharmacy tech, told me she was leaving for the day. I bid her a good night and told her to be careful in the morning. We were expecting some bad storms to run through the valley in the morning.

"I don't need you getting hurt driving in from Wintersville." She waved and bid me a good night. I waved and went back to my nightly inventory.

Moments later, I heard the bell ring as someone entered the store. I looked up from the inventory I was working on. I smiled wider but hesitated seeing the other most beautiful woman in this town, Michelle Sampson, walk into the store. I smiled again, after all these years, Chelle, her nickname from high school, and I were still pretty good friends. She still shook me to the core and frankly depending on what she was wearing, she caused an instant chubby.

You see, we dated in our freshman and sophomore years of high school but she broke my heart when Billy Mays swooped in and stole her heart and virginity from me. Billy was her football hero. They broke up our senior year when he was caught red handed with a girl from Wintersville in the backseat of his car. It's a small town where everyone knows everyone's business and who is dating who.

Chelle nearly castrated him on the spot when seeing him that following night. Don't ever piss off a woman who is a skilled hunter and a woman who can field dress her own deer once killed during hunting season.

We have remained really good friends over the years. At least once a month my mother will ask when I am taking Chelle out on a date. I just roll my eyes and change the subject.

"Hey Chelle, how are you?" I waved and spoke from behind the back counter.

She smiled and waved as well. "Hey Ed, I'm needing some thoughts on this silly spring cold I have."

I walked around the counter and my eyes met hers. I paused and remembered what it was like kissing her. Chelle had the sweetest lipstick of any girl I ever kissed. God those were the days, dating and kissing Chelle! It was always the highlight of my early high school years.

I snapped out of it and walked her to the decongestants to make a recommendation. "Now listen here little lady, you need to drink at least eight glasses of water every day and stop drinking so much coffee."

She curled her pretty little nose up at me. Gosh darn, this little lady was bringing that cubby back to life by just smiling at me.

"Yes, eight glasses Chelle." I was stern again. "What else can I get you?"

She winked, "Maybe dinner and a movie next weekend?" She winked, "Tom Cruise has a new Vietnam movie coming out. Something about the Fourth of July."

I smiled, "Thanks Chelle, but sitting in a theater while you drool over Tom Cruise isn't my idea of a date with you." She blushed.

"So you do want to date me again!" Damn she trapped me.

"Chelle sweetie, we were and probably still are fire and ice. Baby doll we tried to date when I first came back. I am not like him, and will never be like him. You don't trust me like you did when we were young. That dickhead ruined all men for you."

I paused; this was the hard part to tell her. "I respect that but I can't have you break my heart again. I loved you too much then and I fear I will fall in love with you all over again. When you are over what he did to you and when you realize I am

not

him, then and only then, we can date again."

I rang up her purchase and gave her her change. She had lost the smile she was wearing when she came in. I could see the sadness in her eyes. Damnit!!

"Chelle, listen I am so ..." she interrupted me.

"No fuck you Eddie Banks! You know I thought it would be a good idea to ask you out again. I am over him you ass! That is why I asked you out. Fuck you Eddie just go to hell you bastard!" Chelle started crying then grabbed her bag and ran from the store.

I sighed and threw my hands up in the air. Great! I knew it wasn't her idea to ask me out. She was forward and outspoken but I didn't think she would ask me out unless ... "son of a bitch!"

My mother, damn her. Now my mother was trying to fix me up with Chelle again, crap, I give up. At eight o'clock, I shut everything down and locked up. I didn't feel like heading home so I went to the bar down the street. I walked in and moved as far away as I could from anyone there. My typical spot, sitting in the back corner booth.

Now don't worry, I don't drink and drive. Hell Mom's house and the one I bought from her brother are just a few blocks away on Roan Avenue. Missy started walking over but I held up two fingers and she nodded. She knew the deal: a double, Irish whiskey, neat.

She took her time but soon she came walking over. She stood closer than she needed to and handed me my tumbler.

"Who did you piss off Ed?" She smiled.

"Thanks sis. I think mom sent Chelle to ask me out. I turned her down and pissed Chelle off when I told her I couldn't do it. I just won't do it. Missy, I won't let her do it again." I took a healthy sip of my whiskey.

"Hey little brother, cool your jets. Maybe Chelle has changed. Have you ever thought about that? Or just maybe she wants the best for you."

I looked at her and snarled, "Which one wants the best for me, her or Mom?"

She lowered her head. "What if it wasn't either of them?"

I looked at her without saying a word, I didn't want to know the truth, and I didn't want to be mad at her. Just then the bell on the bar rang, Nick, the owner and her husband, had an order up. Misty turned and walked away. I just sat there and finished my drink.

I couldn't go home yet. I knew as soon as I walked into my house she would come over and then I would have to hear it from her. I didn't want to hear it from my mother. The same old, 'When are you getting married? Why won't you settle down? When are you giving me grandchildren?' The same question once a week.

I tried to get Missy's attention but she was ignoring me. I walked over and handed Nick a twenty dollar bill, thanked him and walked out. I walked down Main Street and turned onto Warren Street while enjoying the early spring evening. It was a bit cool but I didn't mind. Eventually I found myself walking up the sidewalk to the front door to my house. Yep, ending another normal, boring and typical day and night in our little city.

***

Chelle

"He did it to me again, last night Mrs. Banks. I don't know what it will take." I knelt on her living room floor removing her exercise bands. I looked up at her, "I just feel defeated."

As I stood she took my hand and smiled, "He will come around, he loved you twice so far but the stars weren't aligned. I promise Chelle, he has more feelings for you than he is admitting. Please don't give up on him. I promise he does love you."

I smiled and nodded. "Come dear, have a coffee with me." She stood and made her way to the kitchen. She was moving rather well with her walker. The second hip replacement was working well.

She wouldn't let me assist her but she was right, I was a fool all those years ago when I kicked Eddie to the curb for 'him'. All for him to fuck some slut from Wintersville, ugh. I smiled and thanked Mrs. Banks for the morning coffee but I needed to head to the rehab center for my shift.