What We Say in the Dar

[Author's note: Cassie was preparing for a romantic evening with her husband Damian, but he arrived home unexpectedly and he wasn't alone. Hiding in the walk-in wardrobe, she found herself watching Lily take Cassie's place pleasuring her husband]

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COPING MECHANISM

The soft ping of her phone bought Cassie back to reality. Startled, she opened her eyes to find herself still curled up among her dresses in the walk-in wardrobe, wearing nothing but her prettiest lingerie. She blinked, wondering where her phone was, and how long she'd been asleep.

Rolling onto her hands and knees, she felt a clammy dampness between her legs from where she'd soaked through the lace and suddenly, the events hit her: a tidal wave of raw emotion that had her gasping on her knees in the dark. The look on her husband's face as he penetrated the blonde stranger, the way the muscles of his bare buttocks had clenched powerfully as he erupted inside her, on their bed, in their house, with his own wife peeking through the slats of the wardrobe door.

The phone pinged again. She located it, placed on one of the shelves as she had stripped off to dress herself in the lingerie. The lingerie she had intended as a raunchy surprise for her husband tonight when he got home from work, she thought to herself, bitterly. She tucked a loose strand of her dyed-blonde hair behind her ear and sat up, catching the distinct scent of sex on her fingers. It triggered more memories, of how she'd buried her fingers inside herself so desperately, overpowered by a frantic need for orgasm as she watched her husband satisfy his new lover.

She reached up for her phone, seeing two messages from Billie asking where she was. Cassie focused, finally registering the time and seized up in panic. She had missed school pick-up: the twins would be waiting at the gates. But Billie was letting her know she had them, and not to worry. Cassie stood quickly, messaging that she was five minutes away, and pulled on the first thing she could find, a long cotton maxi dress hanging behind her. She kicked off her high heels and bolted out of the wardrobe and down the stairs.

---

Billie waved as she spotted Cassie approaching, turning from her conversation with a couple of the other mothers. Behind her, she could see her sons climbing one of the trees with three or four other kids in the little park opposite the school gates.

"Hi," Cassie blurted once she was within speaking distance, "Sorry, I got held up."

"All good. The kids were all keen to hang out anyway."

Billie was taller than Cassie, but willowy, her neat, long brunette hair twisted up into a practical bun and stuffed today under a cap. She turned to the park and raised a finger, pointing downwards, face stern. One of the children, a girl, froze in place and then gradually began to climb down to the ground, making a face to Billie as she did so.

"She's got no concept of gravity," Billie tutted, "Just like her mother."

Cassie forced a smile, still a little out of breath from her race to the school gates.

"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Billie continued, turning now to Cassie with a wry smile, "On either side of that particular equation."

"I'm really sorry I'm late."

"Really, don't stress. We all got stuff to do, right? Any time you aren't gonna make it, just ping me," she laughed, "We're all in this together."

Cassie nodded, her eyes on her boys as they ran around the bottom of the tree pretending to shoot each other with sticks. Billie had turned back to her conversation with the other mothers, leaving Cassie standing on the edge of their little ring. She turned towards them, listening in but not offering up anything herself, feeling the adrenaline surge of racing to school slipping away, leaving her with a hollow feeling.

Cassie shifted slightly and felt the cotton fabric of her dress brush against the sheer nylon mesh of her stockings. Her hand rested casually on her thigh, but beneath her fingers she could feel the little hard button of her suspender belt clip hooked into her stocking top. Subconsciously, her fingertip traced around the tiny bump as she listened to the other women talk.

She tried to follow the conversation, but however hard she tried to concentrate, she found herself disassociating, drifting back to what had just happened to her. Cassie felt the gulf between herself and the other mothers as they talked about school parent council in their active wear and summer dresses, while she was terribly conscious of standing there with nothing but her dress to cover the sheer black lace and nylon of her sexy lingerie, still clammy from where she'd moistened it as she'd pleasured herself, watching her husband cheat on her. She wished now that she'd taken the extra minute to change, but she had been so hell-bent on getting out of the door. It was partly to collect her kids, but also partly, she knew, a desperate need to flee the scene.

That feeling between her legs, the overpowering urge to touch herself, what she'd done to herself as she watched them fuck. What the hell was that? Who the hell was she? Cassie tried to rein it in, take back control.

"So, are you, as well?"

One of the other women was looking at her expectantly.

"Uh, sorry. I wasn't...."

"Going to the parent teacher meeting on Tuesday?"

Cassie nodded, forcing herself to focus. "Sure."

Tuesday. Next Tuesday. Would Damian do it again, another lunchtime rendezvous with... what was her name? He'd said it. Lily. Yes, he'd called it out while they made love. Lily. She was the one her husband had brought home. Through the jumbled mess of her thoughts, Cassie locked onto this information. Damian was bringing Lily home at lunchtime to have sex in their house, on the bed Cassie shared with the man she loved.

She kept going back to it, but there was something wrong. The thoughts just seemed to slip away, she couldn't make them stick. There was a woman in sex-stained lingerie with a broken marriage standing next to mothers arranging their calendars. She felt naked and alone, separate from her body and her friends.

"Look, I gotta go," she mumbled, meeting Billie's eyes briefly, "Thanks for looking after the boys."

Billie smiled. "Any time."

Cassie turned, waving across at her sons, trying not to break into a run.

---

Sam was being difficult, pushing his carrots around the plate, as if deliberately trying to wind his mother up. His brother ate in silence, finishing his plate and sitting back expectantly. Cassie rewarded him with a smile.

"See, Charlie's finished," she said.

It wasn't smart, playing one off against the other. She knew she shouldn't, her psychology training kicking in, but it was the easiest route to the goal. Cassie felt drained and it was all she could do to not snap at her son.

By the time they were finished, in and out of the shower, and in their pyjamas it was late. Cassie looked up at the clock and suddenly felt her chest clench: Damian was due to walk through the door any time now. How had she let that happen? How had she not prepared herself for when he got home? Cassie felt a heaviness in her throat, her stomach churning, and made for the downstairs toilet quickly. She just managed to get the door closed and the toilet lid up before she vomited.

Outside, she heard the unmistakeable sound of the front door open. There was a thudding of little feet and cries of 'Daddy!' from her two boys, followed by the low rumble of her husband's voice. Cassie gripped the edges of the toilet, spitting the sour taste from her mouth, gasping for air as the wave of panic hit her.

"Honey, I'm home!"

Cassie coughed and cleared her throat.

"In here," she croaked, "Out in a minute."

Cassie pulled herself upright and began to run the cold tap, lapping up the water from her hand and sluicing the taste from her mouth. She looked at herself in the mirror, pushing dampness away from the corners of her watering eyes, running her hands through her unkempt hair. She took several deep breaths, steeling herself. She flushed the toilet and opened the door.

Damian was standing in the hallway, entangled with the kids. Sam was pushing hard against one of Damian's outstretched hands while Charlie hung off the other. They were working as a team to try and bring down the alpha male, with Damian laughing and smiling at them as they pushed and heaved. He looked up and their eyes met.

The way he looked at Cassie cut straight through her, rendering her immobile and speechless. He dragged his offspring with him as he lumbered down the hall to his wife. Standing in front of her, he disengaged Sam gently then bent down to place a soft kiss on Cassie's lips. She expected to hit him, or scream, but instead, she melted at his touch. Face to face with her husband, the events of earlier in the day seemed like some kind of fantasy, a product of a febrile imagination.

"Rough day at the office?" he asked.

His hands were on her shoulders now, gently kneading her flesh through the cotton. All Cassie could do was nod.

"I'll take them from here, shall I? Tag team."

Cassie nodded again.

Damian flashed her a smile, a hint of perfect white teeth, and turned to gather up his sons and march them into the lounge, leaving Cassie standing in the hallway. Yes, it had been a rough day, the worst day she'd ever known. She wanted to tell him about it, how bad it had been, how hurt she felt, have him listen and then wrap her in his arms and cuddle her until she felt better, like he had done so many times before. It finally hit home that she couldn't do that this time because he was not the comfort for her pain, he was the source of it. There was nowhere she could turn.

As the evening progressed, they fell into the familiar bedtime routine, the same as they had done a thousand times before, finishing up with a story on the boys' beds. Cassie lingered on one bed, legs crossed, watching the way her sons listened in rapt attention to their father. She was watching Damian as well, her brain struggling to reconcile the man in front of her with the man she watched through the wardrobe door at lunchtime, burying himself in a stranger. Damian came to the crux of the story, his eyes wide in pantomimed glee as the hero rescued the duck from the pond. The boys always loved this part, and her heart overflowed as she watched their joyful reactions. Suddenly, the events of the day were a thousand miles away, as if they had happened to someone she didn't know, in some far-off distant land. Sitting on her son's bed, all she could feel was the love.

Damian looked up from the page at her, speaking the words by heart now. His eyes traced down her body, to her knees and down her dress. His gaze lingered on her legs, sheer stockings revealed beneath the cotton. The story ended and he closed the book.

Cassie moved in to give both her sons a kiss, and she felt a hand against her thigh. She continued to tuck Sam into his covers, but the fingers traced up, finding the little lump under the cotton where her suspender belt clipped the tops of her stocking. She felt the finger press the button into the soft flesh of her leg. Cassie switched beds, seeing to Charlie, but the hand roamed further, drifting across her bottom, exploring, until it located the thin strip of lace between the cheeks of her bottom, hidden from view under her dress.

She stood up and left the room, but Damian was following close behind. Her mind raced, cursing herself for the second time for not having changed her clothes. In some strange, twisted way, her plan from this morning was working: dressing up in her sexy lingerie and then showing her husband tantalising glimpses, allowing him to explore her body until he discovered her dirty, hot secret. All blown away by the shock of him coming home with Lily, witnessing his betrayal.

Closing the door to their sons' bedroom, Damian drew her close, his hands tracing the outline of her body under her dress.

"Damian, wait, I...."

Her voice was cut off by a kiss, long and slow, as he backed her up against the wall. She felt his hands travel up her body to cup her breasts as his tongue slipped into her mouth. Cassie gasped and Damian buried his face in her neck, planting little kisses on her throat.

"Please," she gasped, "I need to...."

His lips were on hers again, sealing her mouth, stifling her voice.

"I know," he rumbled, his voice low and seductive, "Let me take care of it."

She felt his fists bunch in the fabric of her dress and suddenly he was pulling her dress up over her head, revealing her in her lingerie.

"Wow," he breathed, "You look amazing."

Cassie stared into his eyes, seeing his lust, wanting to say something to him but suddenly rendered mute. He had fucked another woman in front of her. She had to confront him. She needed to tell him.

But her body betrayed her, responding to her husband's hands as he drew out one nipple and then the other from beneath the lace, bending his neck to her chest. She felt the delicious, slick warmth of his tongue and lips his mouth locked onto her, engorging her tips and sending little shivers of delight through her body.

Cassie fought against the feeling, trying to focus on his betrayal, but then he dropped to his knees in front of her and began to tease her g-string down her legs.

"Seems like you've been thinking about this all day, you naughty girl," he murmured from below.

Cassie opened her mouth to speak, summoning her will but then she felt his tongue slip into her, soft and warm, teasing her folds delicately. Instead of screaming her outrage, all she could do was groan.

Damian's hands were firm on her thighs, pushing her naked bottom against the wall, splaying her wide to give himself access to her innermost reaches. His nose nuzzled through her neat strip of pubic hair.

"Oh, you've definitely been thinking about this, you dirty, dirty girl."

His lips made contact with her clit, sucking and teasing, sending intense sparks of bliss into her core. She felt herself moistening for him. Her body wasn't interested in betrayal, or jealousy, or rage, it just wanted his attention: the firm attention of her husband's strong, commanding hands pinning her to the wall. The feeling of his hot breath across her inner lips as he broke away from her clit and repositioned himself to lap at her slit, just the way he knew she liked it.

Cassie wanted to scream, to pull away, to have... to have... to open herself up and let him satisfy her. To feel his rigid manhood part her and slide into her body. To feel the delicious, powerful cadence of his strokes as he built up to climax. Finally, to feel that overwhelming, affirming moment where he exploded inside her, when her body satisfied him at last, receiving his love as he slaked his lust in her willing flesh. She looked down and met her husband's eyes, and was lost.

Sensing the moment, Damian stood and lifted Cassie off her feet. Instinctively, she wrapped her thighs around her husband's waist and her arms around his neck, pulling her face close to his. Damian grinned sexily and kissed her, giving her a taste of her own juices as his tongue slipped between her lips into her mouth.

Suspended, she could feel his strength as he began to carry her up the stairs to their bedroom. A twist of memory pierced the haze of lust that his attentions had raised in her, of being laid out on the same bed in the same way as Lily, but it was too late now. Damian would not be refused, and Cassie no longer wanted to.

At the top of the stairs, he kicked open the bedroom door and walked in. Stopping at the bed, he broke off his kiss and dropped her onto the covers. Cassie felt a moment of freefall and then she was splayed out on the sheets, legs wide, displayed for him. She watched, mesmerised, as Damian shed his clothing, working quickly to undo his belt and slide his trousers and underwear down his legs. The shirt was discarded. Cassie looked up at her husband's beautiful, toned, naked body, all the way from his stiffening cock to his defined abdominals, up to his thick, strong chest, and finally to that wolfish, white-teeth smile that made her stomach churn.

"Been thinking about this all day, I can tell. I could smell it on you. You're such a slut, aren't you?"

Cassie's eyes were wide, locked on her husband's handsome face. She nodded.

"What are you?" he prodded.

"A slut," Cassie whispered, her tummy quivering at the admission.

"No. Not a slut," Damian replied, bending over her now, lowering himself onto the bed on his hands and knees. "You're my slut, aren't you?"

"I'm...," Cassie gasped, "I'm your slut."

Damian grinned, his manhood rigid beneath him now, pointing directly at Cassie's spread open pussy. He lowered his hips and penetrated her, plunging into her slickness to the hilt, entering his second woman for the day.

Cassie's toes curled, her body surrendering to the perfect thrill of Damian burying himself inside her, feeling at last what Lily had enjoyed all those hours ago on this same bed, in this same position. Cassie wrapped her arms around her man, pulling herself up to give him a long, passionate kiss, her nails digging into the firm, muscled flesh of his broad back.

Damian began to thrust into her, with little motions at first, unhurried, teasing. Cassie knew how it went, her husband's technique, how it would build from here until he was driving into her, making her moan and gasp. She could see the end from the start and despite what he'd done to her, how he had betrayed her, at this moment none of that mattered.

He didn't change position, sensing that she was already close, keeping a steady, solid rhythm as she began to build to orgasm.

"Is that how you like it?"

"Mmm hmm."

"I know you do. I know what my little slut likes."

He began to pick up the pace, but the words had triggered something inside her. He had taken Lily to bed, pumping her full of his seed, and now he was doing the same with Cassie. Was she just another one of his sluts, after all, a body to be used for his pleasure? Was that what she had become, was that what he had turned her into?

Damian was driving into her now with abandon, sliding his entire length deep inside her with every stroke. She could see it in his face, and she could not believe she hadn't seen it before: the vision of Damian satiating himself in the body of a woman, not because of love or wanting a connection, but just to satisfy his need for climax. It triggered the same feelings she'd had in the wardrobe, looking out in secret at her husband fucking Lily: helplessness and a feeling of being inconsequential, ready to be used.

Cassie came, even as those dark emotions surged up within her, inexplicably driving her passion to new heights. She pulled herself close against her husband, wanting to feel every available inch of his skin pressed against hers, clenching him powerfully with her vaginal walls as the waves of orgasm overtook her.

In answer, she felt her husband buck and twitch insider her, pumping his seed into her waiting body, completing the process of using her for his pleasure. She quivered against him, emotions roiling, as Damian swept her into his arms and pressed her tightly against his chest. The connection triggered a sudden cascade of old, familiar emotions, of love for the man who held her so safe in his arms. Cassie couldn't tell if what she felt was really love or if it was a perfect counterfeit, conjured up by habit and a deep experience built up over the years. It felt real.

In the end, she had capitulated, lured into submission by the familiar feeling of her husband's body against hers. Lying now in his arms, in the dark, it was almost impossible to believe that he'd cheated on her. That was the hard part, trying to reconcile it all. To Cassie, it was inconceivable that her husband could show so much passion for her while at the same time showing the same passion for another woman. It was as if she had seen two alternate realities today, only one of which could possibly be real.