Early Release 1

Early Release

This is my first attempt at writing any type of fiction. This is not really a BTB story, more of a KGTB (Karma Gets the Bitch) story. All characters are over 18 years of age. I'd like to thank kenjisato for his help in editing this story.

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It was an Early Release Day. We had shortened classes and had an early dismissal. Here, we were sitting in the school library listening to the newest mumbo-jumbo that was supposed to increase test scores in math and language arts. My science classes would, once again, be taking a hit because the new plan would be to cut half an hour weekly from my classes to give more time in the two 'tested' curriculums.

This was a meeting that was scheduled to be really long and we had been asked to be prepared to stay until about six PM. Yeah, school administrators are both stupid and assholes. No teacher was going to be fully invested in a meeting that lasted more than three hours past the end of the school day on a Friday. Why in hell would the administration schedule this type of workshop?!? We were supposed to be meeting on suggested changes to next year's bell schedule.

The last-minute change had been requested by Area Superintendent George Bullock. I had never liked him. About a year ago, his brother had taken a job at the same bank where my wife worked and was now her new boss. I wouldn't have known about the connection, except that Sharon had been complaining about him being an egotistical asshole and bragging about how he and his brother both held prestigious positions. At least, she complained about him until about a month ago.

Shortly after the meeting started, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I ignored it because we were actually supposed to have them turned off and it was a number that looked familiar, but with no name attached. Whoever it was, tried several times and stopped. I almost answered, but I was pretty sure I had a name attached to all my important numbers. I had been getting those annoying 'we want to buy your house' calls. I just ignored it.

Turning off phones was unusual, because most of the teachers were parents and should be expected to be able to be reached by their kids. I found out later that it was a request of the same asshole, Mr. Bullock, that scheduled this workshop last minute.

About five minutes later, my phone started buzzing again. I risked a peek at the number. It was Cindy Wallace, one of my wife's coworkers and best friend. They didn't work in the same department. Sharon was an executive assistant for Benson Bullock, and Cindy worked in the loan department. It was a fairly large building and they usually only saw each other at lunch and as they were leaving. They went to high school and college together, and had remained strong friends. Wondering why Cindy would be calling me, I told my coworkers I had to go to the restroom and walked out into the hallway.

"Tom! You need to call Sharon. Leave the workshop right now and call her! Do it!" And she hung up.

Damn! Did I forget something? I knew it wasn't our anniversary; I couldn't forget that-- it was the day after my birthday. I used to say it was the best birthday present ever! In eight years of marriage, I can honestly say I had never forgotten an anniversary. Had I forgotten an appointment, or something? No, I would always put reminders in my phone as soon as I scheduled anything, or if Sharon told me she had scheduled something. I would get notifications at least one day before, if not more.

I walked to the end of the hallway and out the door because the signal in the building was terrible. Sharon's phone rang and rang, and went to voicemail. I left a message to call me back, adding, "I Love You!" I tried again. Still no response. I tried about five times and gave up, then called Cindy back.

"Tom, did you get a hold of her?"

"No. I left a message and tried four more times, but no response."

"Tom, this is really important. I need you to meet me at Bean's & Things (a local coffee house) as soon as you can. Can you leave school now?"

I started to get a really bad feeling. "Yeah. I'm leaving now."

I went out to the staff parking lot and was heading out before I realized I hadn't told anyone I was leaving. Fuck it! This was too important.

That was when my phone started ringing. I was driving, so I didn't look at the number, I just hit the CarSync button to answer. I was sure it was Sharon calling me back about the message I had left. I was surprised to hear the voice of George Bullock. He was furious, wanting to know where I was. I told him I was feeling sick and was headed home. He demanded that I turn around and get back to school right now. I didn't know why I did it, but I lied.

"Sure, Mr. Bullock. I'll turn around at the next exit. I'm on the Beltline and there is an exit ahead. I'll warn you, though, I'll have to hit the john as soon as I get there and it might not be pleasant. I'll use one further away from the library. I don't want to affect anyone that has to take a break during the meeting. I'll be back in the meeting as soon as I can."

Apparently that satisfied him because he grumbled, "Get back here and get back in the meeting."

Of course, I had no intention of getting back to the meeting because at that moment I was pulling up to Bean's & Things. I walked in and was getting ready to order a large black coffee when I heard my name from the back corner. I walked over and saw two large coffees on the table.

"Sharon always said you preferred black and you're going to need a large for this conversation."

I didn't like the sound of that at all. As I sat down, I asked, "What is this about, Cindy? I tried calling Sharon again right before coming inside and got voicemail again."

Cindy reached over and put her hand on top of mine. "Tom, I want you to know I had no advance warning. Sharon told me what she was doing right before she left at lunchtime. Please don't hate me for being the bearer of bad news. I will let you know, I'm going to give you the truth, not the lie she asked me to share with you."

With that, I knew my wife had left me. I didn't know the specifics, but I knew she had done something. For the past few days, she had been a lot less responsive in the bedroom. She had been texting while watching TV at night, which she normally didn't do, but I didn't think too much about it-- 'til then.

At first, I didn't realize I was sobbing uncontrollably, or that Cindy was kneeling beside me, trying to soothe me. After a few minutes, I was able to get myself together. I had to hear what Cindy knew. She got back up, gave a few stern stares to people that were watching us, and sat back down.

*********

Sharon and I had met in college; we were in education classes together our sophomore year. Sharon was a very plain girl when I first met her. We became friends and even study buddies, but nothing more than that. I was having to work a lot to help pay for my schooling. My parents were both teachers and it's true that teachers don't make a lot of money. I didn't have time for a social life, and to be honest, I really didn't care at the time. That was until I showed up one evening to study for a math exam.

Sharon had come from a fairly rich family, but also a very conservative one. She never dressed to show off her looks. She had long brown hair that she wore straight, and by long, it hung just past her ass; she always had to pull it to the side when she sat down. I always thought it was cute.

What met me at the door was not cute-- not by a long shot. Apparently, her friend Cindy had convinced her to do a makeover. Sharon had warned me that she might look different when I got to her dorm room. I found out later that Sharon had told Cindy that she was interested in me, but that I had never shown the first indication that I was interested. That night, I lied and told her that I didn't think she was interested in me as anything other than a friend, and I didn't want to ruin that. Honestly, she just wasn't on my radar. We were just friends and she was just plain.

Not that night! She had her hair cut to just below the shoulders, curled to frame her face. Normally, she wore a headband, to hold back her hair so it just fell down her back. She was also wearing makeup, which I had never seen her do before. And her baggy clothes had been replaced by a tight, pink cashmere sweater X and tight blue jeans.

I didn't know how long I stood there with my mouth open, but she was pleased enough with my reaction to just stand still, long enough for my mouth to start to dry up. OK. She wasn't still. She was twisting back and forth at the waist, and I was mesmerized by tits I never knew she had; while they weren't enormous, I found out later they were 36Cs. I had always been more drawn to eyes and legs, but, right then, I couldn't stop staring.

When I lifted my eyes to look into hers, I noticed that she had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. I felt like an idiot for not noticing them before. I did say I was an eyes and leg man. Why I had never noticed before, I'd never know. Needless to say, I didn't get much studying done that night. Neither did Sharon, but we both passed the exam the next day, anyway. I was sure my grade was due to the fact that Sharon told me that if I scored higher than her, she would treat me to a movie the next weekend. I don't remember what her reward would have been, but I'd never regret staying up all night to study after I left her dorm.

Sharon ended up changing majors to get a finance degree, but teaching was what I really wanted to do. We no longer had many classes together, but we started a sharing lot of time together anyway. We dated through the rest of college and ended up getting married shortly after graduation. I got a teaching job in the same city where she started working at a bank. She started her job shortly after graduation, but I had to wait a little while to see if any teaching jobs would open up over the summer.

After we married, we found a house south of Raleigh. It was a little bit of a drive for both of us, but our jobs were close to each other, so we carpooled. Every once in a while, one of us would have an appointment or something like the workshop, so our second car was just an old Toyota Corolla. Nothing to look at, but reliable. I didn't mind staying a little later at school to grade papers, but it was a little bit more difficult for her to have to get to work so early since school started a lot earlier than her banker's hours. In the long run, it actually helped her advance in her job to get a better paying position, because the bosses all thought that she was just a dedicated employee. She never let them know otherwise.

I thought we had a great life. Normally, we still had sex at least twice a week, usually three, sometimes four. We also tried as many positions that we could think of. I didn't think that what we did was boring. Sharon didn't talk much, but by her moans, I guessed what she liked. I knew not to expect sex every night at this point in our marriage, but after eight years, I thought we had a really good sex life and a great marriage. We had talked about kids, but that was more me than her. She was willing to have kids, but not as eager as I was. After a few years of no results, we both scheduled appointments for fertility checks. I definitely had the swimmers, but the doctor told Sharon that it was highly unlikely, nearly impossible, for her to conceive. She put on a sad face, but when I would look back, I was not sure if I didn't see relief instead of sadness.

I got on decently with her parents. I thought I liked them more than they liked me, but sometimes, you have to live with what you could get, as far as in-laws go. Bill had seemed to warm up to me quickly, and over the last few years, Marie seemed to enjoy being around me more, as well.

My parents adored Sharon. My dad thought she was gorgeous. My mom thought she was the sweetest girl on the planet. After my younger sister, of course. She knew my older sister wasn't sweet. She was too tough for that. They couldn't wait for us to give them grandchildren. That was one difference between my family and hers: Mine wanted grandkids, hers didn't.

*********

"Tom, if I had known anything was going on, I would have told you. You know that, right?"

Cindy had always been a great friend to both Sharon and myself. I never doubted her.

"Of course, Cindy. I have never questioned your friendship. Just please tell me what is going on."

"Please, understand. She told me that she loves you more than anything. She just said she was doing something she just had to do. I'm sure you know that you took her virginity and she has never been with another man."

********

I didn't know it when we first had sex. I was also a virgin, but since I felt no barrier, I assumed she wasn't. She later told me she had broken her hymen, riding horses at summer camp that year. The bleeding had scared her so badly, the counselors had called her parents to meet her at the emergency room to have her checked out, and her parents took her home from there.

********

"Yes. It took a while to believe her because I never knew that was possible, but I finally did. It made for a rocky few weeks because I thought she had lied to me about never sleeping with anyone else."

"Sharon came to me and asked me to go out to lunch with her. I agreed. I didn't notice at the time, but she saw me put my phone in my purse, and while I was getting ready, she took my phone out and stuck it in my desk drawer. I'm guessing, because I didn't find my phone until I got back to work. She had stuck a deck of cards in the pocket where I placed my phone that had a note attached to it. I'll explain that in a minute. Anyway, she said she wanted to go get burgers and she asked me to drive. She said you drove today so you would pick her up later."

"She drove today! Where is our car?"

"Tom! I'll get to the unimportant stuff later. Just let me finish because this is hard enough."

She looked at me for my understanding. I just nodded.

"Sharon started telling me about those articles she had read, and how she had only ever been with you. She told me over and over again how much she truly loved you and wanted to spend the rest of her life with you. But she still believed those articles. She hated Benson Bullock when he first came in as her new boss. She told me so, every time we met for lunch."

Cindy suddenly sat up straight and looked like she was in pain. She slumped forward and started to sob.

"I'm so stupid! She acted like she hated Benson up until about a month ago, but she hasn't said anything bad about him for the last month. That's how long she said he had been trying to spend more time talking to her. And he had started closing the door when she went into his office. I'm so sorry. I should have noticed and said something!"

"Don't be upset at yourself, Cindy. You couldn't have known. Please go on." I didn't really want to hear more. I was feeling like my world was collapsing, but I had to know.

"She told me that Benson had suddenly changed and had started being nice to her, and complimenting her. It was gradual, but over the first week, she started to pay more attention to how attractive he was, how he carried himself. She told me that last Friday, he asked her to a 'business lunch' to discuss some changes in the office. He didn't want some of the other employees to overhear that their jobs might be in danger before final decisions were made. She agreed because she said she was starting to see he wasn't such a bad guy. Some of the other girls said they had been hearing rumors that he was an excellent lover, but no one would admit to actually being with him."

Everything I was hearing was making me angry. I jumped up, walked to the door and back. I had started to leave, but I needed to hear the rest. When I went back to the table, Cindy had gotten me a glass of water. I thanked her profusely and asked her to continue.

"Sharon said she never would have considered doing anything with Benson before Sunday." She stopped then and looked very pale. Something she was about to say was worse than anything she had said yet.

"What happened Sunday? Please tell me."

"I'm really sorry, Tom. I would have considered it a miracle. To Sharon, it was a sign that she needed to have her experience before it was too late." She paused and took my hands. "Sharon had missed her period, so she took a home pregnancy test. You're going to be a father! She said she was going to take a day off from work when she got back and make your your favorite meal and tell you then that she's pregnant. She hasn't done anything yet, so maybe there is still time to stop her."

"I'm not sure congratulations are in order at this point. I don't know if I can stay with her to raise a child. Even if she hasn't done anything yet, she is planning to. I'd definitely have a paternity test done. I don't know that she isn't lying to you as well. Maybe she's had sex with him already and she could only get away for a weekend by getting you to lie for her."

"Sharon swears that she hadn't done anything yet. That's why this weekend was so urgent. She said that if she had more time, there were other men she would have considered. She's seen the way some of your friends have looked at her. She was positive she could find one that would be discreet and not look down on you."

"That would have been great! My friends would have known, too! Then I really would be turned into a cuck!" I sat back and motioned for her to continue.

"They were going to go to the Bullock family beach house. She wanted me to tell you that she had to go down for a conference that a Denise was scheduled for and had to cancel last minute. She said she told Benson that they would try having sex tonight. If it wasn't good, she'd have him bring her home and say the conference had been cancelled due to technical problems. If it was good, she'd come back Sunday night. She said she was going to have Benson drive her by the house and pack a small bag and leave you a note saying what she told me about the conference."

"She was planning a whole weekend of sex?!? And she thought I'd be OK with that?!?"

"She thought you'd never find out. She actually was certain that I would cover for her. I don't know why she'd ever think that because she knows Dave cheated on me and I threw him out.

"She still loves you. I know she does, because she said they were turning their phones off after four o'clock because she knew you wouldn't be out of your workshop before then. And she told me that if you called and said you love her, which you always do when you're on the phone, she couldn't go through with it. That's why I tried to get you to call her so quickly. I hoped you'd get her before she shut off her phone. Benson pulled up about then and she ran out, got in his truck and left. That's when I realized what I thought was my phone was a deck of cards."

She had taped a note to the deck. Cindy held it out for me to read.

Cindy-- I really need you to support me in this. If you don't, Tom will be heartbroken. I know you don't want to do that to Tom. I know I'm putting a huge burden on you, but I know you'll do this for me. In case I'm wrong, I hid your phone. We'll both have our phones turned off by the time you find it. By then it will be too late. If you care for Tom the way I know you do, you won't tell him about something that he won't be able to stop. If you don't tell him, he will never know. If I thought he could handle it, I would have talked to him before I left. He must never know.

"I raced back to the bank to get my phone, and that's when I called you."

My head was throbbing, and I was getting ready to pour out my then-cold coffee and start on whatever B&T had on tap, when my phone started buzzing. Maybe it was her. I pulled out my phone and didn't recognize the number. I answered.