Foreword by the Authors
This Foreword has little to do with the story below; it's just us venting and you can go straight to the story.
We've been reading some of the comments made in the "Loving Wives" section and it occurred to us that many great authors have dropped out lately. There could be many reasons for this; but one reason might be due to the hateful and threatening comments made by (a small number, but mostly) anonymous commentators.
It's too bad if that's the case; some of these authors will be missed. Earlier this year, Kate and I wrote a "good-bye Literotica" letter after the comments became untenable; accusations of our misogyny and bigotry, even a couple death threats. We put our letter aside when we realized we would miss sharing our stories. We did take down the "Kate the Hotwife" series, which were just fantasies, because: first, Kate hated them (Kate's a good girl, which made the fantasies fun for me, not her); and second, because some readers couldn't distinguish between fantasy and reality (Were they that well written?) and the hate mail was awful.
There are a handful of authors we look forward to seeing when there's a new posting. We can't speak for them, but if they are like us, they write for their own pleasure and the positive feedback received. It's the only payment received on Literotica. Please don't take this Foreword as a plea for only positive comments; most of the criticism can be helpful in improving future works. But; take this as a request to please be a little less hateful/caustic in the criticism; and maybe a little less threatening. It's probably the only way the better authors will continue contributing here on Loving Wives.
Reading the comments made by a number of anonymous readers led us to write the story below. It's amusing to read how they would seek retribution on all parties if their spouse should ever betray them. We think the reality is quite different. As the protagonist's father states in our story, "revenge can be a tricky thing" and can carry consequences far beyond what one imagines.
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All You Need Is Love
My name is Charles Kline and until the 16th of October, April 20th 2010 was the worse day of my life. April 20th is the day I came home early from a business trip and found my wife of six years, the mother of our five-year-old daughter, in bed with that asshole Trent Miller. I'll tell you what happened on October 16th a little bit later.
I can't say the discovery of her infidelity was a complete surprise; there were indications of Haley's displeasure, both with me and with our lifestyle. The recent recession had screwed with our personal finances. We purchased our home just before the crash, so we were up-side-down with the mortgage; owing more than the current value of the house. Haley wanted to walk away from the whole thing. I figured we could ride it out and eventually be OK.
The pisser was - this was the house Haley insisted "we just had to have" and we stretched ourselves to buy the four-bedroom mega-mansion. Now, she's complaining because so much of our income is going toward the mortgage payments.
Ever since Christmas, which disappointed Haley when her gift turned out to be less than anticipated, Haley has been a pain in the ass. Nothing I say or do seemed to please her. My only pleasure in life came from Tina, our daughter. Tina's eyes would light up when I opened the front door after a day at the office; a welcome response compared to the look of contempt on Haley's face.
I won't go into all the wrong reasons I married Haley Turner; it was a mistake from the start. She is a very beautiful woman, on the outside at least. Both of us were coming off failed relationships. Both of us were good looking, loved sex and knew how to please a partner. Both of us looked around, saw that all our respective friends were married, we wondered why we weren't and ended up at the altar. All lousy reasons to get married.
The marriage may have started out for all the wrong reasons; but I grew to love Haley and that love flourished after Tina was born. Many couples grow apart after the birth of their children, ours seemed to strengthen. It turned out Haley was either a great actress or schizoid; maybe both. Up until late last year, I thought we had a strong relationship and a great family. Stupid me.
I told Haley I would be coming home from my business trip on Thursday; but came home on Wednesday. Haley worked mornings and Tina was in school; which left Haley free in the afternoons and I took a chance. I drove up our street and saw the strange car in front; not exactly discreet on Haley's part; but we weren't friendly with any of our neighbors; more than half the street was empty since the housing bust.
I walked into the house, didn't need to be especially quiet with the noise coming out of the master bedroom. I stood and watched for a few seconds, long enough to get a few photos with my phone. I didn't get turned on, didn't get hard, didn't get especially angry, just felt an overwhelming sadness knowing my marriage was over. There was no way for us to get past the infidelity and total betrayal of trust. The question now, how fucked up my life would be when we divorced. As bad as our financial situation was, it would only get worse. I'd be a part-time father to my daughter, I'd never again hold or make love to the woman I'd grown to love.
Haley was riding on top of the guy who I recognized as Trent Miller, a co-worker of hers I met once. He saw me; but before he had time to move, I pulled Haley off him by her hair. He popped out of her cunt, his hard-on waving around before he covered himself with the top sheet. Haley turned to look at me and did the unexpected - she screamed at me.
"Get the fuck out of here, Charlie! What the fuck are you doing home today?"
I was stunned and reacted in the worse possible way. I pulled Haley by her hair until her face was right up to mine and screamed back.
"You fucking cunt! You have the nerve to ask me why I'm home a day early? You're fucking this asshole in my bed and you have the nerve to attack me?"
I didn't see Trent behind me. He grabbed his phone while this was going on and dialed 9-1-1. We were still screaming at each other when the cops arrived. Trent met them at the front door, he was still wrapped up in the sheet when they all came barging into the bedroom.
Based on the fact I pulled Haley's hair, nothing else; I was handcuffed and carted off to jail.
It took me a couple days to put together the money to make bail; in that time the little in our accounts was gone and Haley had disappeared with Tina. I came home to an empty house. When I returned to work on Monday there was a process server waiting in the lobby. Haley filed for divorce based on mental and physical cruelty.
I counter filed using adultery as a reason; not that it did any good; the courts did their thing - they gave custody to Haley, I had to pay alimony and child support. My credit rating dropped like a rock after we dumped the house. I still had my job; but my life was shit. If it wasn't for Tina, I'd have just left town. There was one bright spot, all charges of spousal assault were dropped.
Now, too many of my evenings were spent sitting on a bar stool at Johnnie's Tavern listening to a bunch of drunks tell me how they wouldn't let this happen to them. More than one claimed I was less than a man for allowing some guy to fuck and steal my wife. I changed bars after I heard a couple drunks say, "cuck, cuck" as I walked out one night.
I couldn't escape the feeling of disrespect. Co-workers, both men and women, either gave me a look of pity or contempt. I started to mull over some of the advice given by the drunks, my former 'friends' at Johnnie's. They were very generous with their fabrications of bravado; how they would get revenge; how I should seek retribution on the couple that put horns on my head and turned my life into this living hell.
One Sunday when I had Tina, we went to visit my parents. After dinner, Tina went into the den to watch TV while my mother and father sat with me at the table drinking coffee. I shocked my parents when I related my feelings of powerlessness and how I felt I needed to do something to reclaim my manhood.
Dad broke his silence. "Are you looking for revenge, Charlie?"
"I don't know, Dad. It just seems like I should do something."
"Revenge is a tricky thing, son. It seems like it will fill the hole; but it seldom does. It can also spiral out of control; you get your revenge on them, maybe their friends or family have to retaliate. Just ask any Chicago inner-city gangbanger how well the whole 'eye for an eye' thing is going."
Although I generally respect my Dad's approach to a problem; he'd think first, then talk or act - I just didn't want to play the part of a cuckold.