Thanks to Alix for being an amazing editor, to Kenjisato for a final polish and to Qetesh for consulting.
The German version of this story is posted in German Literotica as Auschecken by Egon Hoppe.
*
Tammy wasn't listening to me.
I had just returned to the car after checking out and paying the bill. I knew the drill so well I could do it with my eyes closed. I'm usually in and out of a motel office lightning fast, but the manager of the Hideaway Motor Inn was greedy.
When I slid the room key across the counter to him, he ignored it. Instead, he got up, went to the wall behind his desk and flipped a switch. A red glint began blinking on the walls. I turned around, thinking it might be a police light, but he had turned on his flashing "Vacancy" sign.
He had turned the sign off when I checked in. Our room must have been the last one available, and now that we were out, the manager was trying to rent it twice in one night. The next thing he did was pick up the phone, press two numbers, pause a moment, then say, "Doreen? Number Three. Now!"
Only after he hung up, did he come back to the counter with my bill. After I paid and walked back to my car, I saw the maid's trolley already in front of the open door of the room where Tammy and I had spent the last hour.
I got into the car, thanked Tammy for a great time and told her how happy she had made me. As usual, she wasn't listening to me because she was totally absorbed in her phone. It had been the same on the drive to the motel. It was as though our time entangled in each other was only a temporary distraction from her never-ending texts with her girlfriends.
I tried to make my words sound sincere, but I was only going through the motions. I was feeling relaxed and satisfied because she knew how to push my buttons and make me come hard. In return, I usually gave her a couple of good orgasms. There wasn't anything more to our relationship than that.
As I finished my perfunctory expression of gratitude, I saw another car pull quickly into the parking spot two spaces from my car. I wasn't worried because most of the lights in the Hideaway's parking lot were burnt out, and I had carefully parked in a patch so dark that no one could tell what color my car was, let alone see my license plates.
The new car was almost directly in front of the office, so it was bathed in white light, accented by the blinking red "Vacancy" sign. I saw a man get out and walk quickly to the office. The person in the passenger seat was turned toward the driver's side, so I couldn't see a face.
As I fumbled for my keys, the man came out of the office. He had checked in almost as quickly as I had checked out. His passenger, a woman, got out of the car and ran to join him. As she moved, her head darted in all directions.
She reminded me of me the first time I had gone out with Tammy. I had looked around the same way she was doing because I was scared to death that someone would see me. Tammy didn't care about anything except getting revenge on her cheating husband.
I slumped down in my seat as I watched the woman. I knew I was in the dark and she couldn't see me, but there was no sense in taking chances. Then three things happened at once.
The woman stepped into a patch of white light, the "Vacancy" sign, which hadn't been turned off yet, flashed bright red and her worried face was clearly illuminated.
My heart stopped. It was Helene.
Two seconds later they were at the door of Number Three. The maid was already gone. A second after that, my wife was inside the room and the door was shut behind them.
My first instinct was to jump out of the car, break down the door, pound the man into a pulp and pull Helene to my car by her hair. But I got a grip on myself and breathed deeply. I looked over at Tammy to see if she had seen anything. Her head was still buried in her phone as her fingers flew.
As I calmed down, I became frightened. My throat got tight. It felt like someone was choking me to death. Those were my physical and mental reactions to the realization that I could stop Helen before she cheated, but if I did, it would destroy our marriage.
I started the car because I didn't trust myself. If I stayed there, I might do something I'd regret for the rest of my life.
I quickly drove to the shopping center where Tammy had left her car. As usual, I parked several rows behind her. She sensed that the car wasn't moving, looked up, saw where we were and opened the door.
"Bye."
