Can Their Marriage Survive

It was after 11:30 when John got to Tom and Beth's. John had hoped that someone would still be up. He was relieved to see that the light in the living room was on. The front door was unlocked so John walked inside. Tom was watching TV.

"Hey John, what are you doing here so late?" Tom asked.

"Sorry to come over so late like this, but I need a place to stay tonight." John said.

"Sure John, no problem. Of course you can stay here, but why aren't you staying at home?" Tom asked.

"That house isn't my home anymore. Not after tonight. Not after..." John said.

John's head sank and he had to fight back the tears.

"Not after what?" Tom asked.

"Kelly...she...she wasn't...she wasn't alone when I got home." John said.

"What? What do you mean she wasn't alone?" Tom asked.

"When I pulled in there was a blue car in the driveway. I didn't recognize it. I thought it was kind of late for one of Kelly's friends to still be over, but the light in the living room was on. I went inside and found the living room empty. I thought about trying to find Kelly to tell her I was back and kiss her goodnight, but I was hot and tired after my trip so I decided to just go take a shower and go straight to bed. I walked upstairs and that's when I heard..." John said.

John stopped to fight off more tears.

"What did you hear John?" Tom asked.

"Noises...coming from the bedroom. Noises that Kelly makes when we're in the bedroom. I was confused. Why would she be making those noises if she had someone over? I walked down the hall and stood in the open doorway of our bedroom. Kelly was there...on the bed...but she wasn't alone. A man...two men...were in the room with her." John said.

"Oh my God. John; are you saying that Kelly was fucking two guys in your own bed?" Tom asked in disbelief.

"I don't know if she'd done things with both of them or not. When I walked in only one of them was on the bed with her. The other one was beside the bed holding a video camera." John said.

"Oh man...a video camera? So what happened?" Tom asked.

"None of them noticed me at first; they were all too caught up in what they were doing to look towards the door. The man on the bed was positioned so that he was blocking Kelly's view of the door, but then he shifted. She saw me standing there. Our eyes met." John said.

"What did she do when she saw you?" Tom asked.

"She screamed out for the man on top of her to stop and she immediately started crying. The two men looked my way and they both began to panic and started scrambling to get dressed. Kelly pulled herself up against the head board. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. She pulled the sheet up to cover herself. Even with her eyes filled with tears our eyes didn't part. After ten, maybe twenty seconds of staring into her eyes I dropped my suitcase, turned around, walked down the stairs, out the front door, got in my car, and drove over here." John said.

"Oh man John; that's terrible. What are you going to do?" Tom asked.

"I don't know. I haven't got the slightest idea. I know that I won't get any sleep tonight, and maybe not for a long time to come. The only thing that I'm sure of is that I need to be away from that house. I hope that you don't mind me coming here. It's the first place I thought of." John said.

"Sure man; I understand. You're welcome to sleep out here on the couch, or I think Beth has the guest room set up if you would prefer a bed." Tom said.

"I'll probably just stay here on the couch." John said.

"Do you want me to stay up and talk with you for a while?" Tom asked.

"No, that's not necessary. I don't really feel like talking right now." John said.

"Okay John. Whatever you need. If you aren't in a talking mood then I think I'm going to go to bed." Tom said.

Tom went off to bed. John sat there in the dark all night. He hardly even blinked during the night. John had been exhausted when he'd arrived at his house after a long trip, but he couldn't have slept that night if you'd pumped him full of elephant tranquilizers.

The scene that John had witnessed in his own home, in his own bedroom, on his own bed, with his wife and another man, while a second man recorded it on video no less, just kept replaying in John's head over and over again.

It was a very long night; the longest of John's life. He just sat there on Tom and Beth's couch. Eventually the darkness started to brighten as the early rays of dawn crept through the windows and across the floor.

John heard the shower running down the hall. Then a few minutes later Tom's wife Beth came walking into the room. She had a towel wrapped around her body and another around her hair.

She was quite startled when she saw him. She gasped and jumped backwards violently. The jump caused the towel around her body to come loose and fall to the floor giving me a full frontal view of her naked body. She immediately squatted down to pick up the towel and wrapped it around herself again.

"Jesus John, you scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here so early and how did you get in?" Beth asked.

"I'm sorry to have startled you like that. Tom let me in last night after you'd gone to bed." John said.

"The couch isn't messed up, you haven't even taken your shoes off; did you just sit there all night?" Beth asked.

"Yes." John said.

"Why the hell would you do that?" Beth asked.

"I wouldn't have been able to sleep after what I saw last night, so I didn't bother with trying." John said.

"You must have seen something pretty bad for you to sit there like that all night. What did you see?" Beth asked.

"Kelly. She was in our bed with another man while a second man filmed them together." John said.

"Oh my God." Beth said.

She rushed over beside him, sat down and held him. She pulled John's head down onto her bare shoulder.

"John, I'm so sorry. What did she say when you confronted her?" Beth asked.

"I didn't...I couldn't say a word. There was no need for words. Our eyes met and everything that needed to be said last night was spoken without words. I could see it in her eyes that she was sorry, I could see that she was terrified, and I could see that somehow she still loved me, despite what I had found her doing." John said.

"And what did your eyes say to her John?" Beth asked.

"Heart break, confusion, anguish...pain." John said.

"Anger?" Beth asked.

"No, it all happened much too quickly for anger to set in. That came on my drive over here." John said.

"So what happened when Kelly and the two men noticed that you were there?" Beth asked.

"The two men got really scared and started hurriedly scrambling for their clothes. Kelly covered the body that she had been showing two strange men just moments before so that I would not see her shame. She cried." John said.

"What did you do?" Beth asked.

"I did all I could do at that moment. I dropped the suitcase I had in my hand, turned around, and left." John said.

"You just left? You didn't even chase the two guys out of there? If you left before they did, they might have stayed." Beth said.

"No, they left. I'm certain of it. They were terrified when they saw me standing there, and they knew that weren't going to get anything else from Kelly judging by her reaction to seeing me standing in the doorway." John said.

"So what are you going to do now John?" Beth asked.

"I don't know. I sat here thinking about it all night and I have no idea. I know that I can't go into that house, or see her. Not now...maybe not ever again. But I must know what happened. Who were those men? Did she know them? Was it her first time with them? Why was she letting them video tape what was happening? I must know those things, but I cannot ask her." John said.

"Then by God I'll ask her for you. You're a damn good man John, and up until now Kelly has been my best friend, but after what she did I'm not sure our friendship is going to last." Beth said.

"I'd appreciate your help." John said.

"I just hope she has answers for your questions. You should really try to get some sleep, you look terrible." Beth said.

"I still can't sleep." John said.

"Then you should at least eat something. Come on, I'll make you some breakfast before I go over to talk to Kelly." Beth said.

Beth took John by the hand and pulled him to his feet. After sitting all night John's legs were very stiff and it was difficult. Beth quickly whipped up some scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee.

"John, please eat something. I know you probably don't have much of an appetite right now, but you really should eat something." Beth said.

John just looked at the plate.

"Don't make me feed you like an infant John." Beth said sternly.

He slowly began eating. Beth watched John clean his plate. When she was satisfied that he'd finished his food she cleared the table then spun around. Again the towel slipped off giving John his second full frontal view of her naked body.

Beth is an absolutely beautiful woman. John had often thought about what she looked like naked. Now he'd seen it twice and it had no affect on him. She might as well have been fully clothed.

"Okay John, I'm gonna go get dressed and then I'm gonna go over to your house and try to talk to Kelly. Tom will be up in an hour or so, he likes to sleep in Saturday mornings. Do you need anything before I go?" Beth asked.

"Can you take me back to last night before this happened and give me a flat tire or something on the way home so those men would have been gone before I got there and I wouldn't have seen what I did?" John asked.

Beth came over and gave John a hug. With him sitting and her standing John's head was pressed firmly against her chest.

"I wish I could John. I would do that for you in a heartbeat if I could. Perhaps it's better that you know though. You deserve better than to have that going on behind your back." Beth said.

Beth released the hug and backed away from John. The towel she was wearing fell to the floor again giving him his closest look at her yet.

"This God damn towel. Fuck it, you've already seen it. Please don't tell Tom about this. It will be our little secret okay?" Beth asked.

"Not a word." John said.

Beth picked up the towel and carried it over her arm as she left the kitchen. She headed down the hallway for the bedroom so she could get dressed. She came back fully dressed a few minutes later.

"John, I don't know how long this will take. We can't even be sure that Kelly's still there. She might have left like you did. I'll go over there and see what I can find out." Beth said.

Beth got in her car and drove off. Fifteen minutes later she was on John and Kelly's front porch. Not only was the front door unlocked, it wasn't even closed all the way, the latch had caught on the door frame and not clicked home.

Beth cautiously walked into the house.

"Kelly? Kelly, are you here?" Beth asked.

She heard no response so Beth started looking around. Kelly didn't seem to be on the first floor so Beth climbed the stairs and made her way towards the master bedroom. There by the door was the suitcase that John had dropped the night before.

Beth entered the bedroom and found the bed disheveled. There were clothes on the floor. Some were obviously Kelly's, but some appeared to have been left behind by the two men that John had found in the room with her. They'd obviously left in a big hurry to have left some of their clothes, and even a shoe behind.

Kelly was not in the bedroom, but Beth heard the shower on in the bathroom. She walked into the bathroom and found Kelly sitting on the floor in the shower. Kelly wasn't sitting under the stream of water; she was against the side wall where the spray of the shower grazed her legs.

"Kelly." Beth said.

Kelly didn't seem to hear or notice Beth. She was just sitting there holding her knees to her chest and crying. Beth reached into the shower and shut off the water.

"Kelly." Beth said.

Kelly finally looked up at Beth.

"John...he left...he saw me...I shouldn't have been...I was...John saw...he left." Kelly sobbed.

"I know what John saw Kelly, and I know that he left. He spent last night at my house." Beth said.

"Why did I...how could I ever...I was such a fool...John deserves better...I wish I was dead." Kelly said.

"No you don't." Beth said.

Kelly composed herself a little better.

"Yes I do Beth. Yes I do. After what I did to John I deserve to die. I could see it in his eyes...the pain...the hurt...I hurt him...I hurt him really bad." Kelly said.

"Yes you did. When I got up this morning and found him sitting on the couch in my living room he wasn't the same John that I've known for 7 years. I could see the hurt in his eyes from across the room." Beth said.

"Oh God...if I weren't such a coward I'd kill myself." Kelly said.

"Kelly, if you killed yourself right now, it would just hurt John even more. Do you want that? Haven't you already hurt him enough?" Beth asked.

"I never wanted to hurt him Beth. That's the last thing I ever wanted to do. But I have hurt him. I've hurt him really bad. How can I go on living after what I've done to him?" Kelly asked.

"Kelly, I've got a question for you. Would you have wanted to die today if John hadn't seen what he did last night?" Beth asked.

"No, but if he hadn't seen what he saw last night he wouldn't be hurting right now." Kelly said.

"So does that mean that you think it would have been okay for you to do what you did if John didn't find out about it?" Beth asked.

"No, of course not. There's no excusing what I've done. I'd have felt horrible today no matter what and I'd have come clean and told John what happened. That would have hurt him badly too, but for John to have actually seen it happening...I don't deserve to live." Kelly said.

"Well, that might be true Kelly. You might not deserve to live after what you've done to John, but you know what; you're going to live. You're going to get out of that shower, clean yourself up, and you are going to live." Beth said.

"But how can I after what I've done?" Kelly asked.

"You said yourself that you wouldn't have wanted to die if John hadn't seen what he saw last night, which means that you really don't want to die. You said you'd have felt really guilty right now even if he hadn't seen it, and rightfully so; but you wouldn't have wanted to die if he hadn't seen it. I'm sure it won't be easy considering how you're feeling right now, but you're going to stay alive. If for no other reason than because you owe it to John." Beth said.

"John will never speak to me again after what he saw." Kelly said.

"Maybe not Kelly, but he wants to know about what he saw last night. Whether what you did can be forgiven or not is up to John, but you owe it to him to tell him what happened." Beth said.

"Yes...you're right. He deserves to know. I'll get dressed and we can go over to your house so I can talk to him." Kelly said.

She stood up from where she'd been sitting in the shower.

"John doesn't want to see you right now; he's in too much pain after what he saw last night. I've come to get the answers that he wants." Beth said.

"Very well. Give me a few minutes to get dressed and compose myself." Kelly said.

"I think you should finish your shower first." Beth said.

"Why?" Kelly asked.

"Because it would be very inappropriate for you to give me the information John wants while you still have another man's cum on you." Beth said.

She pointed at the cum that had dried in Kelly's pubic hair and had not rinsed away in the shower.

"Oh god." Kelly said.

She started crying as she turned on the shower and scrubbed hard trying to get herself clean.

Beth went downstairs to wait in the living room. Ten minutes later Kelly came downstairs fully dressed. She looked terrible. The events of what happened the night before, of her husband John seeing her like that had taken the life out of her.

Kelly sat down on the couch close to where Beth was sitting in one of the chairs. It was clear that Kelly was really uncomfortable. She wanted to break down and cry, but she owed it to John to come clean about what happened, even if she had to tell him through her best friend Beth.

"Kelly, I know this won't be easy for you, but if there's any chance of salvaging a friendship with John and perhaps even your marriage then you need to answer for what happened last night." Beth said.

"I understand. You're right. I'll tell you anything you want to know." Kelly said.

"First off, who were the two men John found you with?" Beth asked.

"Adam Wright and Jeff Daniels." Kelly said.

"John said he'd never seen them before. Do you know them?" Beth asked.

"Not really." Kelly said.

"What does that mean?" Beth asked.

"I met them online. Well I met Adam, then he introduced me to Jeff." Kelly said.

"How did you meet them online? What kind of site was it?" Beth asked.

"It was an online personals site." Kelly said.

"Do you mean a dating site or one of those ones where people look for sex partners?" Beth asked.

"Sex partners." Kelly said hanging her head.

"What were you doing on one of those sites?" Beth asked.

"I was bored. I'd heard people talk about them so I found one. You had to post your own profile to look at the other profiles. Within a few hours I had some emails asking me if I wanted to get together for sex." Kelly said.

"And you said yes?" Beth asked.

"No...at least not right away. I politely declined the requests. Then Adam started emailing me. He seemed different. Instead of emailing me about sex he would talk to me about everything but sex. He introduced me to Jeff and the three of us started chatting online." Kelly said.

"For how long?" Beth asked.

"I started chatting with them 5 months ago." Kelly said.

"And when did you first have sex with them?" Beth asked.

"Last night." Kelly said.

"Are you telling me the truth?" Beth asked.

"Yes. We'd become very close and started talking about sex more and more. Yesterday they showed up here. I wasn't expecting them, I didn't invite them, but I also didn't tell them no. I should have made them leave, but I didn't." Kelly said.

"So the sex that John saw was consensual?" Beth asked.

"Yes. I knew it was wrong, but having two men kissing and caressing me after only being with John for the past 9 years was very exciting. It shouldn't have been, but it was." Kelly said.

"What about the video camera? Did you agree to let them tape what was happening?" Beth asked.

"Yes. They said that since it would probably be their only chance to have sex with me they wanted to be able to remember it forever." Kelly said.

"Did any of you know that John was due home yesterday?" Beth asked.

"Yes, I knew, and I told them, but we lost track of time." Kelly said.

"How long had you been at it when you saw John in the doorway?" Beth asked.

"I went upstairs with Adam and Jeff at 6:00, and it was after 11:00 when I saw John." Kelly said.

"You'd been having sex with two strange men in the bed you share with your husband for 5 hours?" Beth asked.

"Yes. Now do you see why I want to die? I didn't just make one mistake; I made it over and over again for 5 hours. I never should have let it happen at all, but I did, then I let it happen again and again." Kelly said.

"What happened after John left?" Beth asked.

"Adam and Jeff got dressed as quickly as they could and left in a hurry. I just sat there cowering on the bed for over an hour wondering if John was going to come back. I could see the wet spots on the bed, the clothes scattered about, and I could smell the scent of sex in the air. I felt dirty, filthy, I had to get the filth off of me so I got in the shower, but the filth wouldn't come off. I collapsed in the shower and sat there until you found me." Kelly said.