Back in March 2019, I published a story called "
The Anniversary Dance
," about a young, sexually repressed wife who turned to stripping as a way to help her open up to her husband. This story is another take on the theme, but the wife in this story has a much different motive...
As always, constructive comments are always welcome and appreciated. Please refer to my profile for more on my personal policy regarding comments, feedback, follows, etc. (Yes, I do moderate comments. Please remember, this is a work of fiction, meaning that it is not real in any way, shape, matter or form.
...
Josh Hurly was on his way home from Seattle after wrapping up a successful negotiation that would significantly improve cash flow for the software company he worked for. On top of that, he had the opportunity to see his younger sister, Lisa, who had come up from Tacoma, where she attended the University of Washington.
They had a good dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn and spent a couple hours catching up. It had been a few years since he had seen her and he enjoyed the time they spent together. Now, he was looking forward to seeing Donna, his wife of nearly five years. He hated being away from her, but unfortunately, that was just the nature of his job.
What he was really looking forward to was their five-year wedding anniversary, which was on Friday, the day after tomorrow. Unknown to her, he had already made a reservation at a local resort hotel for the weekend, and had ordered a blue sapphire sunburst necklace he intended to give her at the hotel. His plan was to pick it up from the jewelry shop the next afternoon.
Right now, though, he wondered where she could be. He called her cell phone before he boarded the flight, but it went straight to voicemail. He also tried calling the house, but that, too, went to voicemail. Perhaps she's just out shopping with one of her friends, he thought.
He thought about Donna and how much he missed her. Standing at just under five and a half feet, she had long wavy dark hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion that looked like a permanent suntan. She was a terrific lover and kept her pussy trimmed just the way he liked it.
The only complaint he had was her insane jealousy. She was normally one of the sweetest women he had ever known, but he hated it when she made her false accusations. He loved her too much to ever cheat on her, and went out of his way to make sure she realized that. Still, it had gotten so bad that he couldn't even have a business meeting with a female colleague without Donna thinking they were having an affair.
He thought he had finally nipped it in the bud when he challenged her to hire a private investigator and have him watched. Maybe, he thought, once she had proof of his fidelity she would back off and realize her fears were unfounded. He was getting more than a little fed up with her jealousy and false accusations.
It's not that he didn't have secrets from her. He did, and her constant harping on his so-called "infidelity" threatened to bring one of those secrets to light -- in a very ugly way. He felt his heart rate increase as he thought about her constant harping on the subject. He took a few deep breaths as he had been taught, but to no avail. He felt his face start to burn and knew he had to get himself under control, quickly.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small packet of pills. He took one and began to relax after a few minutes, his heartbeat returning to normal. The man sitting next to him eyed him with concern.
"Are you okay, sir?" the man asked. "Do you want me to call for someone?" John shook his head.
"No, but thanks for asking," he said. "It's just an old heart condition. I've got medication for it." The man nodded his head and sat back, but kept an eye on John, just in case.
Finally, the plane landed. John grabbed his luggage and went to his car, sitting in the short-term parking lot. He tried calling Donna again, but got her voicemail. He got the same response when he called the house. Where the hell was she, he asked himself. He started the car and drove home.
When he finally pulled into his garage, he noticed Donna's car was gone. He thought it odd that she wouldn't be home, since it was about 6:30 pm. Normally, she was home from work by 5:30 or so. Maybe she had decided to go out with some of her friends from work for a drink, he thought.
It didn't happen often, and he never begrudged her that bit of time to blow off steam, but she would generally call or text him to let him know in advance. Moreover, she knew he would be coming home today. Usually, she would be home so they could reconnect when he returned from a trip. He grabbed his things and trudged into the dark house.
He put his things away and headed downstairs to see if Donna had left a note. He found nothing, and made himself a cup of coffee. This was strange, he thought. She always let him know when she would be out for a bit, so why was there no note? He pondered this as he sipped on his coffee. Suddenly, his phone rang. He saw it was from Donna, so he answered.
"Donna?" he asked. "Where are you?"
"I'm sorry, John," she said. "I was getting ready for tonight and I didn't realize you had called until just a few minutes ago."
"What were you getting ready for?" John asked.
"It's a little surprise," she said. "Some friends and I wanted to surprise you when you got home tonight. Why don't you come on over so we can celebrate?"
"Sure," John said. "Where are you?" She gave him an address and he wrote it down.
"What is this, anyway?" John asked. "Is it a club or a restaurant or something?"
"An old friend of mine has a private club at his house and we decided to put something together for you," she said. "Kinda like a combination welcome home and anniversary party."
"That sounds like fun," John said. Donna laughed at that.
"Yes, I promise it'll be a lot of fun," she said. "Wear something casual, okay?"
"Okay," John said. "I'll see you soon."
"See ya, babe," she said before ending the call. Strange, he thought. She didn't tell him she loved him, but yet, this was supposed to be a surprise anniversary party of some sort. Still, there was something about the way she spoke that made him wonder what was going on. He went upstairs, showered, shaved and dressed in blue jeans and a polo shirt.
He looked the address up on Mapquest and saw that it was in a fairly rough area of town. Who did she know that lived out there, he wondered. He knew most of the people in the insurance office where she worked and didn't think any of them lived out there. So who was this friend? He knew she once ran with a group of fairly rough types when she was younger, but thought she had outgrown them.
He locked up, got in his car and punched the address in his Garmin Smart Drive. He backed out and followed the GPS device to the address and was a bit shocked when he reached the destination. A medium-sized house sat in the middle of a lot that was surrounded by a chain-link fence. He noticed the pickups and motorcycles parked around the place and started to get a bit concerned, since he didn't recognize any of the vehicles.
He pulled in, parked and went to the front door. A large man wearing a t-shirt and jeans opened when he knocked on the door. John noticed the beer in his hand and heard rock music coming from inside.
"Yeah?" the man asked.
"I'm John Hurly, and my wife, Donna, asked me to meet her here," John said. "I hope I have the right address." The man smiled, but John wasn't convinced it was out of genuine friendship. The man reached up and shook John's hand.
"You must be Donna's old man," he said. "You can call me T-Bone. We've been expecting you. Come on in." John walked in and looked around to see several other large men in the front room. "Hey everyone, the man of the hour is finally here," T-Bone said. The other men nodded and smiled at John. They may have been smiling, but John didn't feel any real friendship here.
"Where's Donna?" John asked.
"Oh, she's downstairs getting ready for the main event," T-Bone said, causing the others to chuckle. "Want a beer?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," John said. One of the others handed John a bottle of cold beer. "Thanks," John said. He opened it and took a tentative sip. "So, what is this main event?" he asked T-Bone.
"That's the surprise," T-Bone said. "Yer ol' lady wanted to do something special for yer anniversary and asked us to help her out."
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," John said. "Who are you guys?"
"Well, that over there is CJ," T-Bone said, pointing at one of the men in the room. "Over there is RJ, and that guy standing next to him is AJ," he added. "That big feller back there, we call him 'Bull.' I'm sure you can understand why." John saw the very large, muscular black man standing by the kitchen table. All of them looked to be mean as snakes, and John saw the large knife sheathed in a scabbard on RJ's hip.
"Yeah," John said. "And you're all Donna's friends?"
"Yup," CJ said. "Have been for a while. Haven't seen her much since she married you, though."
"She never mentioned any of you to me before," John said.
