It all started, I think, because I couldn't get her to stop singing Melissa Manchester songs. Not that I particularly hated Melissa Manchester, mind. She is a fine singer, and under other circumstances I might even appreciate her. But not now. Not with Cheryl.
Cheryl is my girlfriend. Of course, she's a lot more than that now, maybe better, certainly different. You might meet her later. See, Cheryl has gone from being a dandy piece of ass and a good looker, though clearly a problem child to deal with, to someone who is as, well, compliant as one might wish. And I do wish. Oh my, yes, I do wish a lot. And she answers those wishes, every damned one of them.
As I mentioned, the issue was Ms. Manchester. The song in question was, if memory serves, "You Should Hear How She Talks About You," an up tempo piece with some sort of neo-disco beat. Cheryl loved that song, had it on a cassette she'd almost worn out, which was bad enough entirely. She played it a lot when we were first together, and it was cute for a while. In her opinion, it was Our Song. Gad. In my opinion, I preferred something by Zeppelin, thanks, or even Genesis, for God's sake. I could even have gotten behind another of Manchester's pieces, "Don't Cry Out Loud." But no. She thought that particular Melissa tune rocked, and that the song was perfect. I went along to get along. I guess I went along too much.
We had had an awful week. My business was in a periodic decline (they happened like clockwork every Spring, and things revived in late Summer), she was under stress at her work, and we were squabbling a lot. I would come back to the apartment all stressed and frustrated, and I would grab a beer and turn on some Miles Davis or John , maybe even Louie or The Duke, and just chill. I'd calm down enough to grab a shower, and by the time Cheryl got home, I'd be in a pretty good mood. Then she'd blow in stressed, turn on Melissa, and start slamming cupboard doors and acting bitchy. I guessed that she just had to blow off the steam accumulated during the week, and I was generally ok with being the designated target, but after awhile, she stopped apologizing. And she stopped asking if she could change tapes. She'd just do it, regardless of what else was happening, and storm around the place. And she had a stinky temper.
Now, the thing is, I have a temper, too. Not a bad one, and I had been taught long ago that gentlemen don't hit ladies. You just don't, and I never did. But, boy, there were moments when it was right up to the edge, and only the sound of my Daddy's voice in my ear kept her from getting her block popped. But I did and do have a temper. And mine was like pretty much everyone else's in my family. It was sneaky, and onlookers never could quite get a handle on exactly when it would blow, because we all made the effort not to let anything show. Which worked up to the point where the thing was triggered, and then all Hell would break loose. And Cheryl had never actually seen that side of me. Keep that in mind.
So, the night when things started to blow up big, I was chilling after a shower, listening to Miles. Cheryl stomped in all hot and pissy, started throwing things all around, and went rummaging through the refrigerator for something cold. She found it, then came out into the front room and went for the stereo. She grabbed a CD, and started to reach for the eject button. "Leave it alone," I said. She turned and looked at me, clearly even more pissed than before, if possible. "You heard me. Leave it alone. Go take a shower or something and calm down."
Well, that's where the screaming started. I caught such unbelievable hell that you'd have thought I kidnapped the Lindburgh baby and helped Hitler take the Sudetenland. I sat there and just let it wash over me. She screamed a bit more, something about "who the fuck do you think you are anyway, my goddamn father?" When I replied "if I was, I'd wash out your mouth with soap," she stamped off, went into the bedroom, and slammed the door. I heard the shower going for a bit, then the hairdryer. A few minutes after that, she came back out, her mood not much improved. "Did you make dinner," she asked with a scowl. "There's a pot of vegetable soup on the stove," I answered, trying, vainly, not to set her off again. It didn't work. Apparently, vegetable soup was probably the worst damn thing I could have done short of murdering her mother.
Well, after she ranted for a bit, acting like a spoiled brat, I gave it up. In mid rant, I went to the closet, got my running shoes, and laced up. "Where the fuck do you think you're going," she asked, vitriol dripping. "I thought I'd go somewhere a little less loud. Like a steel foundry or a race track." I was losing patience. She came over, got right in my face. "Why do you have to be such a shit?"
I stared at her evenly. "Dunno. Why do you have to be such a bitch?" Which was when she slapped me. I felt my hand draw back, and it almost…almost fired out. She saw the look in my eye and stumbled away. I dropped my arm to my side. Then I turned and walked out.
I ran for about an hour, and then got into a pick up basketball game up the street. All told, it was about two hours later when I got back. She was not there, as I'd hoped, and there was a snide little note to the effect that I oughtn't wait up. Like I was going to. But she wrote down where she would be. She was out drinking with her friends, and I knew pretty much what that meant. She would get hammered and be even more unreasonable than before. Which is how it shook out. She stumbled in a little after two, futzed around in the bathroom for a couple of minutes, then staggered to bed. She threw off her clothes, and got in, curled up, and began to snore. Obviously, she was drunk. Just as obviously, it became apparent within an hour or so, she had been doing something more than drinking. I woke back up with all the covers over on me and her bald naked on the other side of the bed. She was laying there spread out, snoring like hell. I was still kind of cranky at her, but I loved her.
The thing is, Cheryl was and is absolutely gorgeous. Dark brown hair, deep blue eyes, and an olive complexion made her attractive, but 36D tits and a round and highly functional ass made her a knockout. She would look good wearing a paper bag, and laying there spread and nude, I wanted nothing more than to tear off a little. We hadn't been fucking much lately because we were too busy dealing with the fact that she was a constant brat and bitch. I figured what the hell, and started to caress her anyway. Stone asleep, she nevertheless started to respond. I caressed her tits, then leaned over and lightly licked the nipple nearest to me. It pinched tightly and stood up sharply. She moaned a little, then ran her hand across her chest. I gently started to light her up with little kisses under her tits, then nuzzled her neck, lightly leaving tiny amounts of moisture and then blowing gently across them. She shivered, and her nipples crinkled even tighter. Then I ran my hand down her belly in little circles, lightly. She started to move a bit around her hips, then they rose upwards and around. Obviously, she was getting aroused. I heard a little moan in the back of her throat. I stroked down to her pussy, playing with the lips a bit, then ran my fingers over her moistening slit. And then stopped and leaned over to get a closer look and a whiff. I checked her out carefully and got incredibly pissed off. There was no doubt. She had been laid earlier, and I knew damn well that it hadn't been me doing the deed.
It was all I could do not to wake the bitch up and confront her. Instead, I decided to see who she was fucking and how long it had been going on.
It didn't take too long to find out who. By calling and leaving a message on our machine telling her I'd be home very late, I accomplished the first task. I was waiting down the street in my car, and a Mazda Miata rolled up about a half hour later and one of Cheryl's co-workers clambered out and up the steps of our apartment. I went and got a cappuccino, then returned, walking up to the back of the place. I had left the curtain on our bedroom strategically opened before, and I positioned myself to observe the action.
It was a little intense. I got myself situated outside the window just in time to see my girlfriend in a full-body lip lock with her buddy. She was wearing a robe, but I recognized it as one that left little to the imagination, and it was apparent that she wore nothing under it. They kissed, almost frantically, hands all over the place. He started down the front of her, kissing her neck and then moving on to her tits, caressing them, licking the nipples, hoisting them and squeezing them like cantaloupes. There was something almost clinical about the way I watched them. I know that all sorts of other guys get off on watching their wives or girlfriends make it with someone else, but I found it pretty unappetizing and kind of disgusting on a really basic level.