...I could hear them stumbling in to the house, my husband Rob and his best mate Jake. Pissed again.
Nothing new...in fact it was pretty routine these days; well for Rob at least.
My husband and I had drifted apart since the birth of our first child 10 months ago, to the extent that resentment and mutual loathing were now common feelings we both shared.
The arrival of the baby was the catalyst for the change in our relationship, the little bundle of joy driving an innocent, but firm, wedge between us.
As with most women, sex after the birth of a child is not high on the priority list, and as with most men (having been starved of sex in the late stages of my pregnancy) now the baby had been born, fucking me again was top of his list of priorities.
The inevitable clashes and arguments and sulky moods ensued. They were made worse because the new arrival also demanded so much of my attention, and I began to feel that my husband was jealous of our baby...because he was no longer the sole focus of my life...but that goes with the territory, right? He was a complete immature prick sometimes.
Rob started a new job soon after the birth, a better paying job so we were more financially stable while I took extended maternity leave...unfortunately, for almost 8 months now he had been working everyday to some extent or another.
In the beginning I made allowances for him, it must have been so tough on him working so hard for us. In a way I pitied him for having to work 12 hours Monday to Friday, and then also call in Saturday and Sunday for varying stints to check everything was OK, but this sentiment had worn thin lately.
Recently, having seen what he had become, and how he had begun to treat me, verbally abusing me, putting me down all the time, abandoning me...I had nearly walked out with our baby on a number of occasions...The only things holding me back were guilt (because despite it all he was still trying hard to give us a decent lifestyle and it was me who did not want sex in those first months after the birth), I had no real money of my own (I was reliant on him financially) and finally, as bitterness set in, I did not want to be seen as the one that broke us up, the wife that he would tell the world had left him, despite him working all the hours god sent for them; and had also spurned his advances. I did not want him to receive the sympathy and for me to be painted as a bitch.
I don't know if I was post natal, or I was just too concerned with the new arrival, or just not ready for sex in those first few months after the birth - whether deep down I was self-conscious of the changes to my body, or felt unattractive I just don't know...I didn't really psychoanalyse it, I was too busy, and too tired.
The fights and atmosphere at home, due to the sex issue mainly, eventually led Rob down a different path which made matters much worse.
Ironically though, this came at a time (around 3-months after the birth) when I had begun to feel "in the mood" - I had actually felt quite horny once or twice and for a week or so, we'd had sex four or five times. It had been hurried and frantic and over with in seconds or minutes...not enjoyable, not sensual - just quick, desperate, fucking.
It only took that week for Rob to take it, and me, for granted; that we were "sorted"...now he had stuck his cock in me a few times, all was well in his world. This is how it would be now. Wrong.
I made the mistake of correcting this belief, of asking him to make love to me properly, to take his time, be tender and not just fumble around with my pussy under the covers to get me wet, then turn me over and take me in the spoons position...That's when the abuse started. He called me all the names fit to burn that night. Told me I was lucky to be fucked at all with the way I was acting up, and the way I looked half the time.
That's when Jake came on the scene, and things went down hill rapidly. It was not necessarily all Jakes doing to be fair, but he was an influence...and ultimately more.
Rob worked for a transport contractor on the site of a big customer, and befriended one of the loading supervisors, Jake...initially just to make sure things went smoothly, you know, keep in with the lads and they won't take the piss, and help Rob's day go without too much stress. However, after a couple of months in his new job, him and Jake had become tight...best of buds. This cementing of their friendship, happened around the same time that the rift between Rob and I had deepened, after the week of sex.
At the end of shift, because Rob didn't want to come home to another row about sex, or anything else, he started going to the pub for a few beers with Jake...this happened two or three nights per week at first. He would roll in at around 10pm, eating whatever I had prepared earlier, then fall in to bed, turn away from me, without a word, without a hug, cuddle or a kiss...and go to sleep.
The rift was slowly becoming a chasm. I actually loathed him for ignoring me, doing as he pleased, indifferent to me.
Now Jake on the other hand didn't always want to go to the pub, he liked a drink (but always paced himself, so on the whole he never got rolling drunk, for reasons which become clear later) and he also liked to look after himself...so he went to the gym 3 days per week, instead of the pub.
Rob however, became a regular. He got to know a crowd of people there so eventually he went every night of the week after work, whether Jake went or not. I never saw my husband, and neither did his baby daughter.
The weekends were worse, because when he finished early in the afternoon on a Saturday, he would meet Jake religiously and was in the pub for hours. It also became the ritual for Jake to stay over in our spare room on Saturdays, because they stayed out so late.
6 months or so later, my husband had not just been working everyday, he had been to the pub everyday to. He looked a fucking mess. He had put on so much weight, started casual smoking when he was at the pub (which I detest), and didn't really look after himself at all. He had become a slob.
We had also started to argue about money. He took the job and worked those long hours to provide for his family, but more and more we were getting further in debt, because he was spending it all in the boozer. He just said the same thing when we argued, "go back to work and contribute then, or just fuck off!"
Our relationship crossed that line from not having sex or intimacy of any kind because of "natural reasons" such has having a baby, the physical need to heal, and the mental desires being dulled due to being tired, or just not being ready for intercourse yet or whatever it was...to ultimately me not actually finding my husband attractive anymore, hating the slob he had become, despising him for the things he called me.
The difference now though, was my libido had returned, I longed to be made to feel sexy and attractive, wanted to be the object of a mans desire, and was often in a state of extreme arousal, and resorted to pleasuring myself, often fantasising about being fucked in so many different ways...only not by Rob. I couldn't bear him touching me...which he still occasionally tried, when he came home pissed...it always ended acrimoniously, with either him or me sleeping in the spare room, when it was not occupied by Jake. Thankfully though, Saturday nights he was usually so pissed he was incapable of even mauling or groping me, and I was able to sleep in my own bed, rather than resort to the sofa.
...And then came the rumours, the gossip, the snide remarks, and messages on Rob's phone he forgot to delete.
Jake looked after himself for a reason. He was a player. An extremely good looking man, who had bedded strings of women...both young and "older" (MILF) - single or married. He had a reputation. A few of my friends had slept with him (more than once), and as women tend to do, they had dished the dirt on his abilities, and his size.
Despite most of the women knowing he was not a keeper and would never settle down or want a relationship with them, they never had a bad word to say about him, he was the archetypal likeable rogue. If he was out for the night and latched on to a piece of skirt, he would ease back on the drink if there was a chance of a fuck..."he did not want his prowess inhibited by drink", he was apparently happy to tell any woman he was chatting up.
Now I mention this because Rob spent a lot of time with Jake. And Jake spent a lot of time chasing women when they were out at the pub. Now in every pub there is always a clutch of women that would suck your cock for half a lager, or let you fuck them up against the pub wall in the dim recesses of the pub car park for a few more drinks than that. You know the sort, slightly over the hill, past their prime...wearing too-tight blouses with ample cleavage spilling out of the top, too-short skirts and high heals, lots of costume jewellery and make up like a pantomime dame - either divorced, or their husbands just no longer give two fucks about them.