Big Decisions

BIG DECISIONS

I was up past my normal ten p.m. bedtime, looking at some YouTube things on my laptop. There was a line up on the right of clips waiting to play. I was watching a clip about one of my favorite basketball guys, Larry (Big L) Johnson. The clip showed a long range last second shot -- swish. With his long, blonde hair in a pony tail, he looked like a movie star. I knew Big L in college. He was a big name player on the team, and he had an apartment in my building. We would see each other fairly often, especially out of season. When he went pro, he was drafted by the Wizzards, the team closest to my Virginia home. He had retired three years ago from the NBA. Now he was the color guy for WizTV games. I was looking at his clips because I was indulging in some nostalgia.

The next clip up had nothing to do with basketball. It was a newsy clip. It showed Big L dancing suggestively with a beautiful blonde woman. They were at a club in Miami. The dance was overtly sexual. The blonde was my wife. The clip was from that evening, just posted. The header said, "Big L -- Another Conquest?" I watched to the end, about three minutes. The dance ended, and Big L and Lee (my wife) were wrapped in a full body, passionate kiss. I downloaded the clip.

I picked up my phone and called Lee's cell. No answer. Checking the time on the clip, I saw that it had been videoed about an hour before, and just posted.

Lee was supposed to be at a business meeting in Miami, four days of conferences with several people from her advertising firm. One of those people was my good friend Bart Kovaks. I called him. He answered.

"Hi, Bart, it's Lee Martin." That's my name, but I go by Marty.

I heard a pause, then, "Marty, how's it going?"

"Not so well, Bart. Do you have any idea where Lee is now?"

"Man, I.....shit!"

"So she's with Big L? Bart, I need the information. She's all over YouTube. My kids will see it in the morning, and so will everyone else in the world. I need to know if she's fucking him, and if she has been fucking him the whole time." They'd been there three days and were set to return tomorrow at lunchtime.

"They hooked up Tuesday when we got here. We were checking in and they recognized each other -- I guess from college. She comes to the meetings in the day. But she doesn't eat with us. Her roommate says she hasn't been there any night. I assume she's fucking the guy. We all assumed that. I'm so sorry, Marty."

"Me, too. Will you see her in the morning?"

"She has to catch the plane. I think I will. She does show for the morning meetings, not breakfast. I think she may be at the hotel, just some other room."

"Okay, tell her don't bother coming home. If she intended to do that at all. He lives here too."

"I don't want to get into that with her. If she asks, I'll tell her."

"Fair enough. See ya."

Lee and I met at college, when we were both twenty. We were in our junior year, and taking an advanced math class. I walked into the class the first day, looked around and saw the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. Just sitting there, doodling on a pad. There were only five other students, all guys. She was sitting by herself, though. I sat down at the desk next to hers.

She looked over at me, "Well, I see someone has the wherewithal to take that seat. I wondered if I smelled funny."

I looked at the other guys -- all nerds, and so likely very shy. I was not a nerd, despite taking the advanced math class. I'm 5'8", 150 pounds, brown eyes, brown hair, not too bad looking. Women seemed to be okay with me, if not overwhelmed. I used to be told that I had personality.

I said, "You don't smell funny, although I'd have to be closer to really tell. They're all shy nerdy types."

"And you aren't a nerd? No, I see that. I'm Lee Moore." She held out her hand. We shook.

"I'm Lee Martin. When we get married, you won't even have to change the monogram on your luggage and hankies."

"How convenient!" She smiled at me, and the instructor came into the room.

After class Lee and I walked together toward the student union building. She was a green eyed blonde, 5'7", with a medium figure, large breasts, and just a beautiful girl next door face. When she smiled at me, I was truly hooked.

I said, "I bet you were surprised when none of the guys in class sat next to you. Because every guy would want to get next to you."

"Thanks, I was surprised. Mostly, I have to discourage guys. You took advantage of my insecurity, and now I really can't discourage you."

"I have another class in twenty. But I'd like to take you out to dinner -- maybe tonight. Since we're in the same class, we should get to know each other."

"No dinner, sorry. I have a steady man, and he wouldn't like it."

"I had to try. Well, see you around, I hope."

"Me, too. I like you. At least we'll see each other in class."

We did see each other in class, twice a week. It was a difficult class, and I had to work hard at it. One day I asked her a question about a problem, and she explained it to me. I asked her after class if she had trouble with the course.

"No, I'm good at math. How about you?"

"I need to take it for my chem major, but I'm spending a lot of time on it. Maybe you could give me some pointers."

"Is this a come on? I told you I had a guy."

"No, I respect that. I just need a hand. We can sit in the snack bar and go over the stuff, like you were my tutor."

"Okay. Snack bar at 4:00?"

"Done."

I got to know Lee a lot better through the snack bar meetings. She and I hit it off. We would talk about a lot of other things, not just math. One day a big guy walked in and up to our table, where we had the books spread out. Lee looked up at him and smiled her killer smile.

"Marty, this is my boyfriend, Rashad. Rashad, this is Marty from my math class."

I stood and we shook hands. Rashad was a medium complected black man, maybe 6'2", 220 pounds. He sat down next to Lee.

We closed our math books and Rashad wanted to know why I was taking the course, 'with Lee and all the nerds.'

"I need an upper level math course for my chem major. It also helps with my programming."

Then the three of us launched into a discussion of why outside courses that didn't seem to fit were required for some majors. It was an interesting discussion. Rashad was a bright guy. I asked him about his major.

"Phys ed. I play hockey, but I want to teach high school, unless I can make some money in hockey. I could be a gym teacher."

"That's a plan. More of one than I have. Chem majors do get hired. So do programmers. I just don't know which, you know. What about you, Lee?"

"I want to go into business. I'm a business major. I like the idea of making some money."

As the semester went on, I saw more and more of Lee. I had an apartment off campus, and invited her and Rashad one day for a meal. I also invited my neighbor Stephanie, a senior at school, and a looker. She and I had a friends with benefits relationship.

The dinner went quite well. I made a fish stew, some spinach salad, and we had cookies and ice cream. The women drank wine. Shad and I had beer. Lee and Rashad left at about midnight, after we played some bridge. Surprisingly, all four of us liked the game. There was actual competition, although none of us had partnered with each other before. Rashad and Stephanie were one team, Lee and I the other. It turned out that Lee was into some odd bidding systems, and I picked that up. We gradually pulled away and won.

Stephanie stayed the night. She was a looker, and passionate. But we both knew that being fuck buddies was all we were going to be. She had a guy in her home town. I never asked her what he would think about us.

That evening was fateful, in a way, because Lee asked me to play in a duplicate bridge tournament at the Army base. I agreed. Meanwhile, Stephanie had Rashad's phone number, for sure she got it at the dinner, but not noticeably. I saw them together about two days after the dinner. They were walking across campus, toward our building. I followed at a discrete distance. They went inside. I stepped in after them. They were just getting into the elevator. She lived on the fourth floor. That's where it stopped. Hmmmm. What to do?

The bridge tournament was Friday, two days away. I just went to my place and chilled. Near the window. Reading and keeping an eye out. Rashad went out the front door about two hours later. I hot footed it up to Stephanie's door, knocked. She shouted something, took a while to answer. She looked flushed, and wore flip flops and a pull over dress. No bra.

"Hi, Steph. Need company?"

"Not now, Marty. Oh, shit, Marty. You saw. The way you showed up here. You saw."

"Yep. Have a good time, then? Kinda sneaky on Shad's part, maybe."

"I would feel bad about it....except I don't feel bad now. I feel great. Sorry."

"No worries. I'm thinking of how to....approach the situation."

"Only, I hope you don't mess it up between Lee and Rashad. He's just a diversion for me, like you. Well, not even as much as you."

"If you were in Lee's situation, would you want to know that Shad....messed up?"

"Yes."

"Me, too."

The bridge tournament was a lot of fun. The Army people were very good at cards, but Lee and I finished third, out of twenty on our side. Not bad. She said we got points. Whatever that meant.

As we were walking toward my car, she asked me, "Why haven't you told me about Shad and Steph?"

"I was undecided. How did you find out?"

"Steph told Rashad that you knew. Then he initiated a discussion of it."

"I'm sorry. My curiosity got the best of me. So I saw them. What happened in the talk?"

"We decided to cool it off for a few weeks. See how we felt."

"Oh. Okay."

"Marty, I want you to take me to your place. If you want to."

"Oh, do I."

I drove, maybe not as carefully as usual, to the building. The reason I was distracted was Lee rubbing my dick through my pants. I parked, we walked quickly to the apartment. When we closed the door, Lee gave me a hot kiss. A slow, hot kiss. She was moving her body back and forth across mine. I was pushing my hard on into her abdomen.

She stepped back, grabbed me and pulled me into the bedroom. I tore off my shirt and pants, including underwear. Lee had her dress off, her sandals off, just her panties on. I dropped to my knees, pulled them slowly down, and off. I pushed her onto the bed. I dove between her legs and began kissing and licking her sex. She had hold of my head, pushing back. She let out a groan, and came all over my face, lots of moisture. She pulled me up scootched over. I plunged into her, missionary style. I fucked her hard, then harder. She seemed to like that. I felt her come, again a groan, louder. I slowed down after she came, repositioned myself so that I would have direct contact with her clit. Slowly rubbed it as I went in and out. She was clutching me, scratching my back (as it turned out). I built her up. When she seemed ready, I started faster, faster, still at the same angle. I knew I would soon erupt. I went faster, I started filling her, pulse after pulse, as she had her third orgasm. Then it was done. She was clutching me.

"Oh, God, Marty....Oh, my God." I believed her. I always thought we'd be a good fit.

I'm not a man with a big dick. Just average, maybe bigger than might be expected for my size. I did give some thought to how to satisfy women. I had had some success. That included this night. Lee rested for a while, then started sucking my cock. Very sensuous, that. I got so hard. She slipped around, so she was right there for some sixty-nine action. That worked out very well. She came hard. I thought I might drown. I came in her mouth.

Twenty minutes we lay there, gently caressing each other. I got up to piss. She followed.

"Shower?" She asked in a sexy voice. We had a long shower, in which I pinned her to the smooth wall and fucked her. Then we got clean. Back to bed. We fell asleep.

I got up and brushed my teeth. Lee came in as I was finishing. I gave her a spare toothbrush. After we had gotten rid of morning breath we got rid of my morning woody.

At breakfast, Lee asked, "Was I as good as Stephanie?"

"Was I as good as Shad?"

We stared at each other, then she broke into a grin.

"He's bigger, but you're better."

"Steph's very good. But you're fantastic."

From that day, we were with each other. Lee basically moved in with me. Rashad minded, but couldn't say much. Anyway, it didn't take him long to find another main squeeze. He also visited Stephanie every so often.

Senior year was when Big L moved into the building. He was also on the fourth floor. I sometimes saw him and Stephanie together. He didn't move in with her, but they were often seen coming and going together. We said Hi and Bye, until one day Steph invited us up for dessert. Big L was there. We had a nice evening. I thought Big L was polite and smart, and maybe a little too attentive to Lee. Steph may have felt the same way, since we were never invited back.

Lee and I were married at twenty, as we graduated. I took a position with the government, at the Pentagon, as a programmer. Lee got work with a public relations firm. Mainly she did ads for companies. The ads were designed to influence the government, as in Senators, Congressmen, and agency types.

I had inherited a house close to work from my grandfather. It was a rental, and the lease was up. We moved into it. It had three bedrooms, a big kitchen, a 'mother-in-law' redone garage, and a finished basement. It needed work. I did the work with the help of one of my friends from high school, who had a construction business in Virginia.

Lee got pregnant and we had twin daughters when we were twenty-two. Betsy and Linda. They were not identical twins. They were a handful, though. Lee took off a year, and I scaled back at work, to give the twins the attention they needed. At the end of that year I went to contractor status, which meant that I could work from home. Lee went back to work, part time. When the girls were four, she went full time. I had a real routine with them by then, and the contractor gig was going very well. I was making more that way, but no benefits.

Lee's work was getting more intense, mainly because she let it. She had drive, and was getting places. My work depended more on creativity. Some of that went to the government. But some was just for me. I had two new ideas on systems that I thought could make some bucks. I sat on those for a while. Lee was making a lot of money. The girls were entering Junior High, at thirteen. I was thirty-five, and I was in good shape. I ran, and I played table tennis. I know...doesn't sound taxing. Try it some time, against good players.

Before I saw Lee on the video with Big L, I would have said that our sex life was very satisfying. It was for me. On the other hand, we had been together for fifteen years. I didn't believe we were stale. I guess Lee did.

I looked up where Big L lived. About three miles north of us. I wondered if what I saw in Miami was new, or had been going on for a while. I also wondered some other things. I had the girls do a DNA swab, and I did one. That was the next day, after I had informed them about the YouTube video. I felt that I had to do that, to keep them from being ambushed at school. It was a Friday. They had to go to school. They had quizzes and band practice.

Lee called at ten o'clock. I saw it was she. I let it go to voice mail.

"Marty, pick up, Marty. Please. Marty, I love you. I made a mistake. I'll be back this afternoon. I'll.....Oh, shit. (sobs)."

One of the improvements I made in the house was an electronic entry system. I changed the code. The converted garage was idle. It was furnished. I moved Lee's clothing, and other necessities into it. Just piled it all up there.

My mother called and Lee's mother also called. Each wanted to know what I was going to do. I wasn't sure. That's what I told them.

I pulled up Lee's Gmail account. I scrolled through a month's worth of mail, old and new. I checked the trash bin. No contact with Big L. There were some emails about work, and the conference. One or two were a little suggestive, but only from a guy from her work, who was also going to Miami.

Lee's plane was to land at noon. I did not pick up on any of her calls. I had a friend go to the airport, to monitor who got off the plane, and that whole situation. He saw Lee get off with her work contingent. She looked around. He was videoing with his phone. She went to get her luggage. He stayed at the gate. Five minutes after the rest of the people had deplaned, Big L got off. He looked around. He went toward the luggage pick up. My friend followed.

Lee had her bag. She was looking around. She saw Big L. She turned and walked off. Big L got his bag and went outside. Lee was waiting for a cab. Big L joined her and spoke. She shook her head no. A cab pulled up and the dispatcher put them both in it.

My buddy sent me the video. The cab pulled up outside twenty minutes later. Only Lee was in it. She rattled around after she found that her code didn't work. She knocked, rang the bell. I answered the door.

She was tearing up. "I'm so sorry, Marty. I just never.....What a mess."

"You don't live here, Lee. Your shit is in the garage, until you find a place. Maybe you should just go to L's house."

"Oh, Marty. I have nothing with him. I have....I love you."

"You've openly cuckolded me. Made me a laughing stock. The girls are at school. God knows what they are going through. YOU ARE AN EVIL BITCH. GET OUT OF MY SIGHT."

Her face collapsed. She staggered away. She sat on a lawn chair and cried. Our next door neighbor came outside -- Mrs. Cunningham. She walked up and they talked. Lee went over to her house.

I called Lee's mother. I told her that Lee was next door, and she may need some support. Ellen, her mom, wasn't very sympathetic. But she said she'd be here in an hour.

I sat down in the kitchen, drank coffee. I tried to envision what could happen now. I hadn't had any success the night before. I called a lawyer I knew and got a referral to a family law attorney -- Joan Ellis. I called Ms. Ellis' office and made an appointment for the next Monday. Ms. Ellis actually called me back about thirty minutes later.

"Mr. Martin, this is Joan Ellis. You made an appointment for Monday. Are you calling because of your wife and the basketball player?"

"Yes. How could you know that? The video didn't say who she was."

"A TV reporter figured out who she was. Big L is news around here, especially gossip news. I thought that it didn't make sense for us to delay until Monday. Can you come in tomorrow morning, say ten?"

"Yes. Ten it is."

"Please write out for me a brief history of your relationship with your wife, and with Mr. Johnson, if you know him. I'll also need financials, if you have them."

We finished our brief conversation with her warning me against any rash actions.

As I hung up the phone, it rang again. I answered automatically. It was Big L."

"Marty, I called to try to apologize to you."

"Fuck you. I'm going to go out of my way to mess you over as much as I can. Asshole!"

"Whoa, it wasn't all me. She....It was just as much her. It just happened."

"I was happily married to her before she went to Miami. We have two kids. You fucking asshole. If you see me coming, run." I said this and it wasn't shouted. It didn't have a lot of emphasis, even. It was flat.

There was a long hesitation. He hung up. But now I had his number. I went to our phone bill, for our joint cell phones. I clicked on Lee's calls, checked for L's number. I didn't see it until after she had arrived in Miami. Then twice. I had no access to today's calls. I surmised that their meeting in Miami was accidental, not planned. I checked the Wiz schedule. They had played a day game in Miami on Wednesday. Big L was the color man for that. So, he was in Miami for business.