A Night Out - Beth and Jeff

"Here," my wife said, extending her hand out to me, her thumb and index finger holding something pinched between them.

"What's this?" I asked, wondering if someone had handed something to her while we were in the restaurant. Then it occurred to me, the only person we'd talked to was our waiter.

Beth just smiled and grinned.

I held out my hand in response, palm up and into it she put her wedding ring.

I looked up, while my confidence in my world dissolved around and inside me. Beth was looking at me, and she had on her mischievous smile.

Then, very deliberately, she turned, and looked at someone at the bar. A specific someone.

Siting at the bar, thirty feet away, was a man, sitting in a backed chair, three-quarters turned, and he was looking back at Beth. He had a tumbler of something amber in his hand, and an empty chair with a full glass of wine on the bar next to him.

He looked like a bigger version of me. A bit older.

He smiled at Beth, then he looked at me. He raised his glass and gave me a bit of a salute, then he turned in the chair back to the bar. As he did, his hand came down to pat the empty seat beside him.

"No." I half-whispered.

"Do you trust me?" Beth asked me, smiling back at the man, her head turning slowly to look at me.

Half of my mind, the half that wasn't screaming at me, pondered that question for a nano-second.

"No." I said, looking Beth in the eye. "Right now, no, I do not..."

I put her wedding ring on the table and pushed it toward her with one finger.

"Put that back on, and walk out of here with me now."

"Jeff, I'm hurt," Beth said, her fingers fanned out, touching her chest below her neck. There was no sincerity in her voice.

"Beth, I'm not playing any game. I'm not going along with this." I said, leaning over the table a bit, trying to get her to see what she was doing. "I know you wanted to 'bring the passion back' to our marriage, and I've gone along with a lot of things the past few months, but this..."

Beth was semi-ignoring me, as she smiled and turned around to look back at the man at the bar, who was waiting for her.

This was very much a set-up.

"I've gone along with the teasing. I've handled the bedroom games." I said, trying to seem reasonable. "Some I like. Some I don't..."

"I've liked everything I've done, and made you do." Beth said, not looking at me, her gaze firmly fixed on my doppelganger. She fanned her face with her hand, giving the idea she was hot.

"I don't know who that is.." I started, gritting my teeth.

"That's Bob. I work with him. He's new." Beth cut in, flashing me a side-smile.

"Lovely." I growled. "I know you've teased me the past couple of weeks with your cuckolding idea, but I've not bought into it. Not then... and not now."

"I think you'll do just fine." Beth said offhand, giving me a dismissive wave as she looked back to Bob.

Bob was angling his seat again, and looked a question back to Beth.

"Beth, hear me, and hear me well." I stated. "This, right now? A hard limit has been hit."

Beth turned to look back at me, dismissive amusement on her face.

"You want a safeword? Fine. 'Opossum.'..." I spat.

People were turning to look now.

"... but you taking off the ring? Here? And you orchestrating this shit? I'm telling you hard... this is the limit. Put the ring on, and walk out with me now. I insist on counseling, and I'm no longer letting you lead me around blindly."

"You taking off that ring, like this?..." I pointed over to Bob, who looked like he was amused as he watched me gesture. I was certain he could hear me. "... I do ... not!... trust you. Too far. This game is over."

"Even going near this... idea?..." I spread my arms, and nodded toward Bob. "... the act, this far? It's right there, at the limit. Taking off that ring, here in public, with that asshole smirking over there, and you thinking this is fun?"

"Brick wall."

Beth was looking at me, some doubt on her face now. But not enough.

"You get out of that chair, and it's not to go with me?" I stated. "That changes things between us forever. No going back."

I then sat up straight. I'd made my position known, I wasn't interested in debating it.

My eyes were locked on Beth's... and what I saw there wasn't anything I wanted to see.

Over the next few seconds, Beth went from looking like she had doubts, to again, confidence.

She gave me that damn smile again, pushed her seat back, and stood up.

She made a show of straightening her slinky tight red dress, giving herself a little shimmy as she did.

She inspected her grooming effort, then looked at me.

She stepped around the table, to be next to me.

"I love you," she declared, looking me in the eyes. Her hand reached out to rest gently against my cheek.

Hope started to grow inside me.

"Remember that." Beth said, trying to project confidence. Her smile changed to the one that I love to see.

It was the smile she gave me after we'd made love, and were exhausted.

The smile after we'd bought our house, and stepped inside as husband and wife the first time.

The smile as I showed her her new car, that I surprised her with on her birthday.

The smile she gave me after I impressed her parents the first time, gaining their approval to court their daughter.

"Jeff, it'll be okay," she said, softly, her head tilting slightly. "Wait here. This will only be a couple of hours."

Then she turned, and went to sit at the bar beside Bob.

My heart did something inside my chest as I watched her sit, and it hurt. It hurt in ways I didn't understand, and it added to my confusion.

I watched, stunned still, as I saw Beth and Bob's heads come together, and they had a whispered conversation. Bob's little sitting swagger wasn't as evident, as he straightened up and he looked concerned.

Beth leaned her head against his shoulder, although I couldn't hear her with my ears, I heard her inside my screaming mind. "He'll be okay."

Then she straightened up, and took a demure drink of the wine, which had been waiting for her.

"Holy shit..." said someone behind me, disbelief in their voice.

Bob stood, and drained his glass in a couple of swallows. He looked back at me, and gave me this shrug, one of the 'What can you do?' variety.

While he did, Beth stood, put her wine glass down on the bar, looped her arm around Bobs, and she pulled them closer together.

Then they started walking.

As they passed me, Beth silently mouthed "I love you" to me.

I just glared at her.

I didn't turn in my seat as they walked out of my sight, and out the door.

I don't know how long I sat there, staring at the ring that Beth had left on the table, and her purse slung over the back of her chair.

It was taking me a while to calm the roaring going on in my head and heart.

After a small eternity inside my mind and emotions, I shook myself back to the larger reality, and realized a lot of the other patrons were glancing at me, out of the corners of their eyes.

I stood, not wanting to be there any more.

The manager was walking toward me, her face showing sympathy.

"Sir... I... don't worry about the bill," she said.

I nodded I understood. I wasn't under control yet, bouncing back and forth between raging and tearing up. My sense of loss was crippling me.

I turned, and started toward the door.

"Sir..." the manager started, stopping me with that word. I looked back.

"The.. uhm... her purse and jewelry?"

I looked, and there they were.

I didn't even think about it, some part of me knew what to do.

I walked back to her chair, and I grabbed her purse. It was the work of maybe thirty seconds to find her wallet, pull it out while I let the purse drop to the tabletop. I pulled out all the credit cards that we had a shared account on, and pocketed them. Then I tossed down the wallet, her personal debit and credit cards still in it, along with her cash.

I noted that her phone was still in her purse too.

Then I shot a thankful smile to the manager, who was confused, and started toward the door again.

"Sir?" the manager asked as I passed her. I stopped.

"The ring?" she asked.

I looked back to the table, and there sat the diamond studded custom-made ring that I'd spent far too much on, when I couldn't afford it.

"I have nothing to do with that anymore." I said. "It looks abandoned to me."

Nobody interrupted me again as I went out the door.