09

Chapter 7.

Washington D.C.

The next memorable skirmish in The Plan came three weeks after my accident.

My 'agents' inside CableNex had kept me up-to-date on Kathy's scheduled trip to the quarterly meeting of the CPHRE — Cable Provider Human Resources Executives — a professional organization to which Kathy belonged. I had already known the date, but they also provided me with her flight information, and hotel reservations. The group was meeting in Washington D.C., at one of the Capital Hill area hotels.

I'd had a long-standing promise to my boss that I would bring my counterpart in the D.C. office into compliance with some new Federal safety requirements, and that provided the logistics to support the next battle in my campaign to disrupt the Kathy/Karl affair. Funny, it turns out that our office was in the Capitol Hill area as well, and we had a corporate rate for the same hotel that CPHRE was using.

In preparation for my next move, I'd called Evelyn and asked her if I could stop by her house to set some plans for a weekend trip for both of our families, minus Kathy, whose 'Karl' time was scheduled for Friday after work, until Saturday until noon. She didn't have any problem with that, and I arrived at my in-laws place at about 11:45, during my lunch break.

They always tell you not to underestimate people, and in this case, I hadn't quite given Evelyn Hunter her due. It didn't stop The Plan, but it put a slight bump in the road, and added a few complications.

I first explained to Evelyn that both Kathy and I had to go out of town for a couple of days, she for some meeting, and I to update the HAZMAT procedures for one of Equity Corps offices. I asked if she could take care of Jason and Christi for a couple of days, which she told me would be no problem.

Then I suggested, that since the office was in Washington D.C., that if she and Todd could drive down to meet me with all of the kids — Allen, Alexis and Alyssa, in addition to Jason and Christi, then I would pay for all of us to stay and catch some of the sights of Washington on Friday afternoon and Saturday, and then stop by the Gettysburg Battlefield on our way back home on Sunday.

It was almost unfair to Evelyn that I put her into this position, because I knew that Todd was something of a Civil War buff, and had long wanted to show the battlefield to his kids. Both Allen and Jason were both going to study the Civil War this year in school, as well. A lot of temptation. Evelyn had almost no choice but to say, at least tentatively, yes.

When we had concluded our preliminary planning, I was about to leave, when Evelyn told me to sit my ass back down. I looked across the table and found her looking at me in a disturbingly analytic way.

"I don't know who you think you're fooling, Paul, but you're not fooling me." she flatly stated.

"What do you mean?" I answered, confused by the sudden turn of the conversation.

"This whole thing about you allowing Kathy to cuckold you with Karl, without your fighting back. I keep wondering when other shoe is going to drop. What have you got in mind? If you have some plan for breaking up Kathy and Karl, I'll help you any way that I can — at least if you're planning on keeping her. She really loves you, you know," she started to explain.

Evelyn was putting me on the spot. There was a quiet pause as we sat there looking at each other in silence. As I thought about it, I decided that Evelyn could be a useful ally, but I could only expose a small part of The Plan to her. She would be horrified if she knew everything that was coming down on the love birds.

The result was, I did lay out part of The Plan; specifically that I had gotten Kathy into marriage counseling, and that I had been trying to create situations that would disrupt Kathy's times to be with Karl. I explained how I'd convinced Kathy to create a schedule that gave us most of her time, hopefully causing a rift with lover boy, when he could only be with her at times when she and I had agreed. Then I explained my Washington strategy, which tickled her.

So that was how I came to be standing at the Washington WyndGate Hotel on a Wednesday evening with Tom Hodges, my opposite number at Equity's D.C. office. Tom had picked me up at National airport about an hour earlier, and driven me to the hotel. I was standing in line to check in, talking with Tom about our schedule for the morning, when I heard,

"Paul?" came the familiar voice

I turned and looked behind me.

"Kathy? What are you doing here?" I asked my obviously surprised wife.

"This is where my meeting is being held." she explained, "What are you doing here?"

I was doing my best to seem surprised and flustered as well. I moved out of the line to speak with Kathy.

"My boss sent me down at the last minute to help Tom here," I pulled Tom up next to me, "By the way, Kathy, this is Tom Hodges who is in the same position as I am, for the office here in D.C. Tom, this is my wife Kathy."

They shook hands.

"Anyway," I continued, "I'm here for a couple of days to help Tom set up our compliance program for the new Federal HAZMAT guidelines. What meeting are you here for," and whispering, letting Kathy read my lips, "or should I ask?"

Tom, with the grace of a family man himself, decided to excuse himself and leave Kathy and I to our own devices. We bid each other good night, and set 9:00 AM the next morning to meet in his office.

Kathy smiled, told Tom it was very nice to meet him, and he left. Then Kathy replied to my last question,

"I'm here for the CPHRE meeting. I attend one every quarter."

Answering my unstated subtext, she also added,

"This is not 'free' time for me. You don't think that I would lie to you and sneak out of town behind your back, do you?"

"Well... you've done it before." I chided her.

She blushed, but then I waved my hand and dismissed the whole thing.

"Let's not go there, its just a waste of time, and makes us both unhappy. I'm sorry I said that. I'll try not to sound so angry," I said to Kathy's great relief.

Kathy then, finally got the point to which I had manipulated her.

"We both have rooms here for the next two nights?" the obvious fact striking her at last.

"I guess. I actually have a small suite with a king-sized bed here on the corporate account." I bragged a little.

"The CPHRE group rate was for a standard room with two twins. Why don't I cancel my room and stay with you in yours? Where are the kids staying? With Evelyn?" she asked.

I nodded.

"You mean we could have two nights here, with no children to disturb us?" she had a grin on her face as she mentioned this little added benefit.

"And someone else will have to change the sheets," I grinned back as I mentioned that. "The only downside is, that I didn't bring any 'toys'." I had made using sex aids to really rev up our sex at least a sometimes thing — not so often that they became a necessity, but something fun to play with, when we were in the mood.

"I don't mind that, we can make do. And I would imagine that, if we needed to, we could find a bottle of AstroGlide for sale somewhere in Washington," she said, teasing me now.

"What would we need that for?" I asked putting on my most innocent face. Kathy giggled.

We got back in line, this time together. It turned out to be no problem for us to double up in my room, and due to the unusual situation of a husband and wife unexpectedly (at least, so they believed,) finding themselves staying in town for independent meetings, they cancelled Kathy's reservation without the normal charges. In fact, it seemed so romantic to the manager, that he upgraded MY room for free to one of the larger suites, that included a whirlpool tub, big enough for two!

You know, taking a bubble bath with your wife, in a tub with a bunch of water jets to massage you can be pretty messy. But a hell of a lot of fun.

We found some AstroGlide, too. They had it at an all night drugstore down the street. Kathy finally got her wish when I took her anal cherry.

I got her orgasm started, and put my stiffy into her pussy for awhile, but finishing her off by raising her legs up high, and carefully (after applying a lot of lube, and loosening her with my fingers,) pushed my cock into her previously virgin asshole. And it was worth it; she came close to fainting again from the pleasure of it. In fact, she like it so much, that I had her in the butt both nights that we were there. She told me that it was something that we would have to add to our normal repertoire.

She also told me that her ass was all mine — not something that would be shared. For some reason that pleased me a lot, even though I knew that in a short time, I wouldn't be sharing her at all, regardless.

Thursday morning found Kathy and I sitting together having breakfast in the hotel restaurant, in a scene of connubial bliss, chatting and enjoying each other's company, without the normal morning rush, and overweening demands of school age children. I love my children beyond my comprehension, but it's nice to have a break from them now and again.

Kathy asked me if I would like to join her at the CPHRE dinner that evening. She thought that she could still buy an extra ticket for me, and told me that it wasn't especially unusual for spouses to attend the dinners. That sounded fine to me.

Then came the trap I was setting. We began to discuss our schedule for Friday.

Kathy's meeting ended at noon, and she planned to fly back home early in the afternoon. Friday night was a 'free' night, and no doubt she and Karl would expect to go out on a date, and then back to his place until Saturday morning.

She asked me about my plans. Now, the wrench.

"I'm actually staying in D.C. this weekend, and coming home Sunday night," I shared with her.

She looked a bit shocked at that revelation.

"Are you leaving the kids with my sister? Am I supposed to pick them up on Saturday or something?" she asked me with a somewhat irritated tone, as if I was somehow intentionally interfering with her time with lover boy.

"Oh, no, not at all," I let her know, sounding as upbeat as I could, "You're not on the hook at all. Todd, Evelyn and the kids are driving down Friday morning, and will meet me here at noon. We've got reservations for all of us at another hotel in Fairfax for Friday and Saturday nights. I'm taking a half-day off, and we're going to spend Friday afternoon and Saturday doing the Washington tourist thing, and then we're going to drive up to Gettysburg on our way home, and tour the battlefield on Sunday. I already have a retired Army General who is going to drive us around to show us how the battle progressed each of the days."

"Oh," came a rather muted sounding Kathy, "that sounds like a lot of fun."

The distressed look on her face was priceless. I pretended not to notice and cheerfully continued on.

"It works out well for their school curriculum, too. The girls are studying U.S. Government, and the boys are going to be getting to the Civil War in history within a couple of weeks, so the timing is great," came my completely plausible rationale. "I'm really looking forward to it, it will all be so new for the kids. I hope that they will enjoy it too."

Not long afterwards, we finished breakfast, and in the lobby, kissed in the modest sort of way that husbands and wives kiss in public, and went our separate directions.

My morning at the Equity office in D.C. was what could only be called "boring beyond tears." There are sometimes things that are necessary, but making emergency/contingency plans for HAZMAT incidences was punishing. That's why I had avoided coming to Washington for months. That's why my boss was so surprised and pleased when I finally volunteered to do it.

Plus, I was distracted. I was expecting a call.

It was at lunchtime, and I was with Tom and a couple of his crew at a burger place, when my cell phone rang. The caller I.D. was Kathy's. I stepped outside for a minute.

"Hey, Kathy, what's going on? Were you able to get me the dinner ticket." I asked her, trying a bit of misdirection. I didn't care much about the dinner.

"Yes, it wasn't a problem at all," Kathy reassured me, " The dinner is at 7:00; will you be back at the hotel in time to change?"

"That should be fine. I'll get out of here right at 5:00, and that should be plenty of time. Everything else going well? Have the meetings been interesting?" I asked, just stringing her along.

"The meetings have been very interesting, a couple of the speakers have had some compelling things to say. I'll tell you about them later. I was actually calling because I was wondering..." was her tentative beginning.

"Hmmm?" was my only reply.

"If I were to cancel my commuter flight tomorrow afternoon, could I stay here with you guys for the weekend?" was her almost pleading request.

"Absolutely, darling! You are more than welcome. We might have to rent another car to carry us all, but that would be fine with me. I know the kids would love to have you along," I paused, "I would too," I added as if it were an afterthought.

"I would have invited you along to begin with, except that, isn't this one of your..." I left the rest of the thought unspoken.

"That's alright. I didn't have anything special planned, and I would prefer to do this to staying in my apartment," Kathy again pretending that she would have spent the night at her apartment.

I was still tweaking her a little.

"I mean, I don't want to interfere again with.. .you know, you and Karl," I reeked of sincerity as I spoke, "You cancelled your Sunday when I was involved in the accident, already. I thought that getting out of town with the kids would give you a break from all of us."

We exchanged a few more pleasantries, and disconnected. I was whistling the rest of my afternoon.

Several hours drive away, a little over an hour by commuter aircraft, a man on a job site closed the cover of his cell phone with a disgusted look on his face.

"Goddamn, she's doing it to me again," Karl, talking quietly to himself, "I'll have to cancel those dinner reservations. Emergency my ass — what kind of emergency does a Human Resources department have, and why does she need to stay in Washington D.C. over a weekend to fix it? Its bullshit. First she jumps up and leaves me practically the minute she gets to my place, because her husband is in some two-bit fender-bender. Now some other shit." Karl Gerring was beginning to have doubts about Kathy's true feelings about him. She sure wasn't acting like she loved him much. Maybe he was just a little excitement in her life, and once she gets bored with him, it's 'goodbye Karl.'

He turned back to his men.

"Stop standing there, get your asses moving!" They just loved him when he was in one of his moods.

She had reminded him that in two weeks, the schedule gave them a Friday evening, plus the entire weekend together. It was a once every two months thing on her precious schedule. She promised that she would make things up to him then. Plus, they had a couple of work nights scheduled as well. Maybe he'd fuck her until it hurt her to sit down the next day.

"Wait a minute — I'll get us tickets for the long weekend to the Bahamas, or the Keys. We can fly down Friday, screw all weekend, and she won't get back until Sunday, in the middle of the night. Yea, I'll show hubby who she loves! I'll give her some real sex that weekend." Karl smiled at that thought.

Chapter 8.

Washington D.C. — CPHRE Dinner

At the CPHRE dinner that evening I had gone all out. I'd pulled out my newest suit, a silky smooth fabric in navy with subtle pinstripes, and put on a solid light blue shirt and a red 'power tie.' I assumed that they all went together well, because this was a combination that Kathy had helped me select, just before Karl arrived on the scene.

Actually that thought had made me grimace just a little, as I stood there, a glass of some non-desrcript white wine in one hand, the other hand in my pocket, at the pre-dinner reception in the ball room of the WyndGate. Kathy had wandered off in search of a woman's room, and so I was left to my own devices. For the most part I was just left alone; a brief nod of the head, or a quick good evening, and the other CPHRE dinner attendees would pass on.

Until a voice to my right spoke up, seemingly to me.

"Mister, you are not one of us. I can tell because you look too good to be with this crew!" followed by a laugh.

I turned to my right, and there was a stunning, slender, blond woman, mid-thirties, tall, elegant. No rings on her left hand. She caught me looking.

"Divorced. Three years ago, when the bastard reconnected with an old girlfriend," she said, and without stopping continued, "Hi, Meredith Bicksler," as she reached out her hand to shake.

I transferred my glass to my left hand, and took hers with my right, looking into a set of blue-gray eyes that men might die for.

"Paul Matthews, Ms. Bicksler." I managed to say without even stuttering.

"Oops," came her little laugh again, when she saw the rings on my left hand, "Good looking hunk, but taken I see. You can call me Meredith, anyway."

I smiled and looked back, kind of shaking my head.

"Actually, I've been pretty close to divorcing my wife for a couple of months now. Same reason as you. It's still not clear how things are going to turn out. So give me one of your cards. Maybe in a month or two, we can exchange war stories," the smile on my face was real now, as I said those words.

Meredith then saw the slight remains of the bruising and stitches on the left side of my face. Without thinking, she reached up and lightly touched my face.

"Ouch. I hope the other guy came out worse!" she added, again with a gentle laugh.

"Alas, she was 75 years old, weighing all of 100 pounds! And she wasn't scratched," as I proceeded to tell about my accident.

She laughed at my description of the accident, some of which was even true, and then asked,

"Should mama kiss it and make it better?" Oh the mischievous look on that woman's face!

I couldn't help myself,

"Oh, mama. Please!"

I leaned down a little, and she gave me a quick light peck on the cheek.

"See! It's all better now, " she proclaimed, and then we both laughed.

Right then, Kathy walked up. I detected just the slightest coldness to her tone when she spoke; North Atlantic iceberg cold. I think that she had been watching the interaction between Meredith and me for a couple of minutes.

"Carl, I see you've met one of our CPHRE members," came her chill remark.

Meredith and I actually laughed at the tone when she said that.

"Meredith Bicksler, this is my wife, Kathy Matthews," and they greeted each other.

"I was telling Meredith how I came out second best to a 75 year old lady, which explained the bruises on my face." I told Kathy, without the slightest hesitation or apology. After all, this beautiful woman had come on to me, and to tell the truth, I rather liked that. The worst of my bruises weren't visible, they were from blows to my soul, and maybe Meredith's kiss did help the hurt a little.

Anyway, things calmed down after that, and Kathy and Meredith chatted about the speakers, their respective jobs, (Meredith worked with a cable provider in the greater Washington D.C. area,) and mutual acquaintances, until we were called to the dinner. Somehow Meredith managed to be seated next to me for dinner as well. I could have sworn that a Mrs. Humbolt-Smith was what the original seating card read. Sometime during the evening, Meredith did slip a business card to me that happened to have her home and cell phone numbers on the back, with the words: Just in case!

I made it up to Kathy that evening in bed, as I mentioned earlier. We had showered after the dinner, and I spent most of our play time that evening behind Kathy giving her anus a good work out with my tongue, followed by my John Henry. She was back in a great mood by breakfast.