She craves to watch. He's willing.
This one's kind of a biography. Not mine, but a dear friend's. I've heard her story, but I made the rest of it up. I'd never have the courage to just come out and confess my darkest fantasies. At least not in person to he who matters.
And thanks to my dear editor who rides my ass hard, figuratively, making me go back and fix stuff over and over again. If the story is half worth reading, he should get a lot of credit.
-,-'--{{@
How can I tell him? He'll think I'm sick. I'd just forget about it if I could, but it consumes me.
Perhaps I am sick.
Twenty three years married, two grown children, financially well off, and married to the most wonderful man I know. The perfect life, and I'm scared to death I'm going to throw it all away.
But if I don't do something, I'm going to go insane.
Ever since Cindy left for college, I can think of nothing else. I know Steve is getting frustrated with me, and he should be. I'm short-tempered, a bitch to him half the time, and our sex life has gone to hell. I'm lost inside my head all too often, unable to communicate. I'm losing it. Forty-seven years old, and I've got the focus of a four year old. I've got to do something before I drive him away.
He's going to think I'm sick. Maybe I am, but I've got to do something!
- ( . Y . ) -
I'd been my most loving. I labored in the kitchen, once my confident retreat, now a jail. I cooked his favorite dinner, served it with a smile, and gave him his favorite dessert. Me. I broke out all the big guns, wearing a tiny thing he bought me seven years ago, but never had the guts to wear. It exacerbated my every fault, and the poor fool never noticed a one. He was almost in tears when I paraded out in front of him, dropped to my knees, and gave him his birthday present four months too early.
For a few minutes, it was good. I even forgot my compulsion. We were teenagers, in lust and in love. He was a young, bronzed, hard-body, the few inches added to his waist in the last quarter century invisible through the eyes of a girl in love. His need for me was exhilarating, humbling, and the most honest thing I'd ever seen. And I was ashamed that my part in it was a farce. A means to an end.
I wore the poor man out, which is quite the task with Steven. It was about the best chance I was going to get. I needed him sated, content, and enamored again. It was time.
I hated myself, but I had to do something.
"Steven, have you ever cheated on me?" I asked, my body melding to his, the two of us one, at least for the moment. I tried to make it sound playful. Yeah, I'm sure that worked.
"Cheat? Of course not! I could never be unfaithful to you! Why would you even ask?"
I kissed his shoulder, and rubbed his fleshy stanchion, hoping to calm him. Or excite him. Whichever would work. I wasn't picky. "Would you tell me if you did?"
"Ellen, it would never happen. Is that what's wrong? Somehow you got it in your head that I cheated?"
"No, darling man. I knew you hadn't. You couldn't. I was just wondering if you'd tell me if you did. Hypothetically."
"Hypothetically, if by some act of God, I was unfaithful to you, the guilt would kill me. I wouldn't last five minutes around you without confessing." He sounded irritated. This wasn't going well, but then again, I never thought it would. But I had to try. That or collapse inside myself, and live in abject misery the remainder of my days.
His voice was chilly when he spoke up. "Would you tell me? Jesus, Ellen, you didn't cheat on me did you? Is that what this is all about? Have you done something foolish?"
Foolish? Only time would tell, but cheat? "No! Of course not. I've never even been tempted. I couldn't do that to you!"
"Then what's going on? You've been acting odd for months, and now these questions? I thought perhaps you were going through your change. I'd be patient, give you space, but now you're scaring me."
Scared? He had no idea. Try exposing the deepest darkest most humiliating secret to the one you love more than life itself, knowing it would shatter his view of you, and perhaps lose him forever. Wanna talk scared? I was terrified, but I couldn't back down. Not this time.
"Have you ever thought of cheating, Steven? Hasn't anyone ever tempted you? Even a little."
He was quiet, the way he was sometimes, when analyzing something, the engineer in him taking hold. He was thinking, weighing his options. But I knew one thing, if nothing else. He wouldn't lie. Not to me. Not now. Obfuscate, redirect, joke even, but never lie. It was a trait of his I would exploit shamelessly. Evil bitch that I was, I would use his love for me against him to have my way. I was that far gone.
He turned to me, his hand caressing my flesh. Flesh that was not as elastic or blemish free as when we met, but still excited him. Poor bastard. His lips, capable of portraying so much, pressed dryly against my forehead. If he was aware of what was going on in the brain below, they would probably turn to cinders.
"Of course I've thought about it. Lord knows the opportunity has presented itself often enough. But it never goes beyond the stray thought. I don't even fantasize about it. Why, when I get to come home to you, my life, my love. I could never do it though. I could never hurt you like that."
"What if it didn't?" I asked grasping at the opening.
"'What if it didn't' what?" he replied. He sounded confused. His relaxed body exposed his anxiety as his muscles tensed.
"What if it didn't hurt me? What if I said it was okay? What if I wanted you to?" There it was out there. I'd done it. I'd cracked my chest open and served him my heart and soul on a silver platter.
"If you wanted me to, what? Cheat? Are you crazy? You want me to cheat on you?"
I was almost in tears. I reached for him, clinging to him, terrified that I'd lost him. He had to understand. He just had to. He was my savior, protector, and I needed this more than I'd needed anything in my life. I needed him to accept it.
"Yes, I'm probably crazy. I don't know why. But it wouldn't be cheating. I want you to do it. I want to see it. I want to watch you with another woman. The idea is driving me crazy. I think about it all the time. It's eating me up. It invades my thoughts. Please, Steven! At least think about it. I want you to have sex with another woman, and I want to watch."
He released me, rolled away from me onto his back, his eyes soulless, staring at the ceiling. His arm rose from between us, and brushed mine away, thoughtlessly, uncaring. Devastating. He shifted away a few inches, so we were no longer in contact, and I died a little.