Fallout 08: For Love of Money
This is the eighth installment of a new series called, "Fallout" that deals with the consequences of cheating. The current plan is that each entry in the series can be read as a separate story.
The following was inspired by several stories dealing with husbands who get cheated on for greed. Yes, there are consequences...
Many thanks to those who offered comments and constructive criticism on my previous stories. For those who want to say this or that would never happen, remember this is my universe, a place where nearly anything can, and often does, happen. At least on paper...
Please refer to my profile for more on my personal policy regarding comments, feedback, follows, etc. (Yes, I DO moderate comments) And please remember, this is a work of fiction, not a docu-drama...
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The first thought that crossed my mind when I woke up was that my throat was a bit sore. I tried speaking but found that I couldn't. That's because there was something in my throat -- something hard. I looked around and realized I was in a hospital room with tubes and wires connected to various parts of my body. I also discovered a cast had been placed on my left arm and I could feel the bandages on my face.
What the hell's going on, I wondered. How long have I been here? What happened to me? I tried moving but found it difficult. The door to my room opened and a nurse came in to check on me. She looked at my chart and checked my vitals, then left the room.
A few minutes later, she was back with what I presumed was a doctor. He also checked my vitals and flashed a light in my eyes. After he finished humming and hawing, he spoke to the nurse and the two of them removed the tube that had been placed down my throat. That explained why I couldn't talk earlier.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Neely," the doctor said, standing up. That was me, by the way. Jackson Neely, or "Jack" to my friends. I tried talking, but my throat and lips were too dry. The nurse gave me an ice chip and I sucked on it until it melted, then she gave me another.
"How... long?" I managed to croak.
"You've been here for ten days, Mr. Neely," the doctor said. "You had some swelling on your brain and we put you in a coma to let your head heal. You took quite a blow to the head. You also suffered a broken arm." He turned to the nurse. "Why don't you call Mrs. Neely and let her know her husband is awake," he said. I shook my head when he said that.
"No!" I told him. He looked at me, concerned.
"Why not?" he asked.
"She's the reason I'm here," I said as I sucked on another ice chip.
"I see," the doctor said. "Perhaps we should contact the police, then?" I nodded my head.
"Yes," I said. "And a divorce attorney." The doctor laughed at that.
"We'll get the police for you," he said. "In fact, there's already been a detective asking us about you. You'll have to find your own divorce attorney, though." I nodded my head.
"Thanks anyway," I told him. He chuckled, then ordered the nurse to take me down for X-rays. When I was wheeled back into my room, a man wearing a trench coat came in and introduced himself.
"Detective Mel Greene, Metro PD," he said as he flashed a badge. "You feeling good enough to talk for a few minutes?"
"Yes," I said as I took a sip of water. He sat down next to my bed, pulled out a pad and an audio recorder. He set the recorder on the tray in front of me and turned it on.
"I hope you don't mind if I record this," he said.
"No, not at all," I said. He spoke into the recorder, to mark the date, time, and location of the interview then turned to me.
"Okay, Mr. Neely," he said. "Tell us what happened."
"Well, I had just got home after spending a couple days in Pittsburgh with a client," I told him. "I had finished the visit a day early and wanted to get home to be with Julie, my wife. When I got home, I saw a strange car in the driveway.
"I figured that she was maybe having company -- one of the girls from her office. I parked in the driveway and went into the house. Most of the house was dark, but I saw light coming from upstairs and I heard moaning.
"I had a pretty good idea what was going on, but I went upstairs anyway. That's when I saw them -- Julie and some guy -- having sex in my bed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Well, I stepped into the room and yelled out. They stopped and looked at me like I was an alien or something.
"The guy unplugged from my wife and I went after him. I was gonna belt him in the mouth, but he beat me to the punch. Literally. He hit me square in the face. Once. That was the biggest fist I had ever seen in my life. The next thing I know, I'm waking up here," I said.
"Uh-huh," Detective Greene said. "Did you recognize the man with your wife?"
"No, I've never seen him before," I said.
"Did you know your wife was having an affair?" he asked.
"I suspected something was going on, but I wasn't sure," I said. "Wait a minute," I added. "I just remembered. There are cameras set up in the house. I hired a private investigator just before my last trip. I wanted to find out if my wife was cheating on me. He wired up the house for audio and video just before I left. Everything was supposed to be saved to a cloud server. I never got a chance to check when I got home. It's probably still there." Detective Greene opened his bag and pulled out a laptop.
"Think you can access that from here?" he asked.
"I think so," I said. "I have the credentials written down on the back of a card he gave me. It should still be in my wallet." The detective went to the small wardrobe in the room and pulled my wallet out of the back pocket of my trousers. I looked through it and found the card. "Here it is," I said, pulling the card out. I handed the wallet back and he tucked it inside my back pocket.
"Angus McGregor," Detective Green said, reading the name on the front of the card. "Is that your PI?"
"Yes, it is," I said.
"He's the one who called 911," the detective said. "From what I was told, he gave officers a statement, then followed the ambulance here and gave the hospital your insurance information."
"Have you spoken to him yet?" I asked.
"Yes," Greene said. "Told me he found you on the floor at the foot of your stairs, then called 911. No one else was in the house at the time he found you. Let's see what the video shows us," he added as he fired up his laptop and connected to the hospital's wifi. Once connected, he swung the laptop around so I could log in.
I typed in the information Julius had written on the card and was presented with a directory listing of videos. I selected the video corresponding to the time I was at the house and hit play. The video began as Julie, my soon-to-be ex-wife, entered the living room through the front door, followed by a very large, muscular, bald-headed man.
"Do you recognize that man?" Mel asked.
"He's the one who hit me," I said. "I've never seen him before that day, though." We continued watching the video. After looking around the room, Julie turned to the man and gave him a scorching hot tongue kiss.
"C'mon," she told him. "Let's go upstairs and finalize our deal." The big man sneered and swatted her on the ass.
"Let's do it," he said. They walked up the stairs and the video ended shortly afterward. I remembered Julius telling me the cameras were motion-activated, so I went back to the directory and double-clicked on the next one in the list. That video started with Julie and the two-legged mountain walking in the bedroom.
Julie walked to her side of the dresser, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out a thick envelope. She handed it to the man, who pulled out a huge wad of cash. He quickly counted it, then put it back in the envelope.
"Half now, half when the job is done," Julie said. "Just as we agreed." Holy fuck, I thought. Was she paying this guy to kill me? He sneered as he looked her over.
"Well, sweet cheeks, what do you say we seal this little deal?" he asked. Julie smiled as she looked him over. Then she started undressing. Soon, she was naked before him. The man took his clothes off and the two of them embraced one more time before getting on the bed. "Which side does your husband sleep on?" he asked.
"Why?" she asked in response.
"That's the side I wanna fuck you on," he told her. She giggled and pointed to the side closest to the door.
"He sleeps right there," she said.
"Good," he told her, pulling the covers back. "Go on, get over there. Let's leave a nice wet spot for him."
"You're so wicked," she said as she spread her legs for him. He positioned himself between her legs and aimed his cock at her hole. Compared to the rest of his body, his cock looked to be fairly small, certainly not any bigger than mine. He grunted as he pushed himself inside her. She grunted in response.
"You like that, do you?" he asked as he began pumping into her.
"Oh yeah," she moaned. "So much bigger than my husband. C'mon, fuck me senseless." We watched as the two of them rutted like animals on my side of the bed. They went at it for some time and I could tell that he had ejaculated inside her at least once and was working himself into a second orgasm. That's when I walked in and caught them.
"What the fuck is going on here?" I yelled in the video. The two cheaters stopped fucking long enough to take a look at me. Julie had a smirk on her face as the big man pulled out of her. I watched myself charge the much bigger man as he stood, but he pulled back with one fist and caught me right in the middle of my face, causing me to fall down instantly.
Then he picked me up by my collar and hit me again. And again. And again. He hit me in the face several times, then dragged my limp body out of the room. Julie got out of the bed and followed, not bothering to cover herself. The video ended at that point. I went back to the directory and selected the next video.
That video showed three sets of feet at the top of the staircase. One set of feet -- mine -- was the only one with shoes. The big man picked me up and literally threw me down the stairs. My body lay still at the bottom of the staircase.
"Is he dead?" Julie asked.
"Don't know," the man said. "Want me to finish him off right now?"
"Not in my house," she said. "I don't wanna have to clean any more of his blood than I have to. Let him lay there. Maybe he'll do us both a favor and die."
"Maybe," the man said. "Even if he doesn't, I can come back and finish the job. Let's get outta here. We can finish what we started at my hotel room." A couple minutes later, Julie and the man came back down the stairs, dressed, and walked out of the house, stepping over my body. The video ended shortly thereafter. Out of curiosity, I checked the next video and opened it up.
In that one, Angus was seen coming inside the house. He checked on me, then pulled out his phone and called 911. He sat next to me until the paramedics and police arrived. I ended the video and checked the directory. There were no more videos after that. Whatever the cheaters had done, they apparently chose to do it somewhere other than the house.
"What now?" I asked.
"Well, we need to find your wife and her accomplice and arrest them," he said. "You sure you've never met that man before?"
