Yes, this is yet another alternate ending to George Anderson's February Sucks.
There is a reason why so many people have chosen to add their versions of an ending and it is the simple fact that the original is such a brilliant story and very, very well written. It is one of the milestones on this site and if all you have ever read are the alternate endings then please go and read the original. It is a long story, but you will not regret it.
https://www.literotica.com/s/february-sucks
In fact you will not go wrong reading any of his stories. He shows a rare degree of compassion, understanding and empathy for his characters.
While I loved the original story the character of Marc troubled me. Making him a decent guy allowed the story to be a lot more nuanced and complex. It moved things out of the usual "burn the bastard" expectation that is a consequence of most LW stories. Yes, I appreciate the irony that all but one of my own few stories fall into the BTB category.
The problem was that I did not think Marc the "decent guy" would have seduced another man's wife and especially not have done it in front of him.
So I thought of other scenarios to explain it and this is one of those I came up with.
It follows the story up to the point where Jim books out of the hotel and I have listed the plot points that I thought were essential up until then and added them below.
Expect grammar and spelling mistakes. I was in a bit of a rush to get this out in the time frame given in the story -- end of February start of March -- so it has not had my usual level of proofreading.
Synopsis:
Jim & Linda had been married for almost 10 years and had 2 young children, Emma and Tommy.
Jim had felt their marriage was having problems and wanted to make a special effort on Valentines day to repair things. A heavy snowfall put a stop to that and they ended up at home with their kids for the weekend. The kids had a great time and the marriage recovered slightly.
Their group of friends arranged a night out dining and dancing for Friday the 29th as a delayed Valentine's day and booked rooms at the Madison and a table for 10 at the club.
Linda wore a new blue dress that made Jim think she was the most beautiful woman there and she promised to only dance with him for the entire night.
The friends spotted Marc LaValliere, star of the city's football team. He became the main topic of conversation amongst the group at the table.
He came over to them and asked Linda to dance and despite her earlier promise she got up and danced with him. After a few dances, when Jim started to object and went to break them up his friends held him back. Linda returned to the table and asked her friend Dee to accompany her to the restroom. After a while Jim realised that Linda was not coming back and had left with Marc.
His friends told him that she would be with Marc for one night and then would come back to him and everything would carry on as before and they would enjoy many special nights together. Just not this one.
He told them his marriage was over and left. He booked out of the hotel and went home.
Linda:
In the excitement of Friday night everything had seemed so clear cut. Marc was not only a star but was also the most handsome man any woman there had ever seen and he chose ME out of everyone. It was Cinderella. The kind of fairy tale that could never happen in reality -- but for me it had! The dream come true that would be a wonderful reminiscence for the rest of my life.
It was not about the sex, though I am not stupid and knew from the start that having sex with Marc was the price I paid for being whisked away from the ball by Prince Charming. It was completely different in my mind to having wonderful, loving sex for the rest of my life with the man who was my soulmate and loving husband.
Friday I knew that Jim loved me and would understand why I just had to take that once in a lifetime opportunity and that it would not diminish my love for him.
Now, in the light of Saturday morning I was starting to worry about Jim seeing things the way I had on Friday. Hell, I was starting to have trouble explaining it to myself, so how was I going to explain it to Jim?
Marc dropped me back at the hotel. I gave him a very quick kiss before I got out, more like a friend than anything else as I was conscious of the possibility that Jim might see us. It was when I was getting out of Marc's sports car that I realised that a kiss was not the only thing Jim and everybody else could see. Very low slung cars and party dresses mean that you pretty much reveal everything to the world at large.
I was blushing bright red as I rushed in to the Madison. I was even more embarrassed when the hotel receptionist told me that we had booked out.
I had anticipated two possible scenarios. The first was that Jim would be in our room and that we would either have a massive argument and I would convince him that this was a once in a lifetime thing and that I still loved him or that he would cut me dead and our relationship would be decidedly cold for a while.
I preferred the second which was that Jim had gone back home that morning and that I would be able to use the room to prepare for my return.
That would have allowed me to take another shower. I had already had one at Marc's but wanted another one to make sure there were no traces of Marc on me. I would then have dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and fresh underwear. With my shampooed hair in a ponytail I would have looked more like the wife and mother Jim knew and loved.
Now I would have to go home in my party dress.
I took a cab home with my nerves getting worse with every mile.
When I got out of the cab I was conscious that the entire neighbourhood could see my dishevelled state and that I was in last night's slutty dress and returning home without my husband.
Jim's car was not on the drive. My heart leapt into my mouth and then I realised that this was the time we would have gone to pick up the kids. Typical of my thoughtful and considerate husband to keep to the timetable and avoid embarrassing me. Is it any wonder I loved him? At the same time knowing what he was doing made me feel even worse.
Now that I was home I finally turned my phone back on and saw nothing from Jim but plenty of missed calls from Dee. While I was scrolling she called again and this time I answered. I never even got the chance to say hello before she started in a rush.
"What was it like? Was it everything you imagined, you dirty bitch? Tell me! Tell me! I want every single, sordid detail."
"It was unbelievable. Marc, his sports car, his beautiful apartment. It was like every teenage girls fantasy. I was thinking earlier that it was like Cinderella."
"Fuck that! What was the sex like? Was it unbelievably good? How many times did you orgasm? Come on girl, I want to know the proper dirty details. How big was his cock? Was it enormous? Bet it was. He is such a fit hunk he must have a giant cock to go with it. Out with it!" then a little giggle, "Pun not intended."
"It was OK."
"What kind of comment is that? This is Mark fucking LaValliere we are talking about. Women all over the state diddle themselves to sleep imagining sex with Marc and you are telling me it was OK? What is wrong with you? Just the thought of him taking his shirt off and seeing those muscles is enough to get me horny."
"Don't get me wrong. The whole experience was amazing. I will probably have to spend the next few years making it up to Jim but it will have been worth it."
"You are lucky to have Jim. If I had done that Dave would have had the locks changed by the time I came back. Where is he by the way. He's not in the room with you now is he? Please don't tell me he is listening to this conversation. No, from what you are saying he can't be there otherwise he would be throttling you by now."
"No, he has gone to pick up the kids."
"Amazing. How did you persuade him to do that?"
"I didn't. He had already gone to do that by the time I had come home."
"So you haven't had the big argument yet? I don't envy you there. He had a massive bust-up with all of us last night. He basically implied we were no longer friends and he did not want to see any of us ever again."
"Shit. I hadn't thought of that. Jim won't have a blazing row in front of the kids. He will just bottle things up until we are on our own and then he will explode. The longer it takes the bigger the explosion will be. I need to find a way to get the kids out of the house before it gets nuclear."
"But it will be worth it! What was the sex like? Did he have the big, enormous, steel hard cock that we all fantasise about?"
"No. It was just normal. He was no different to Jim."
"Well, that is an image I did not want. Now I will be tempted to fantasise about Jim."
"Don't you dare. Jim is mine!"
"Ha. As if you have any moral authority after what you just did."
I stifled a sob when I heard that. There must have been some indication over the phone as Dee immediately apologised.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. That came out wrong. Just envy on my part."
"That's OK. You are right. I am going to have to watch what I say for a while, especially when I am around Jim. He may not say anything but he does pick these things up and you can see it sometimes in his face for a second before he can correct himself. Shit. That is something else that is going to be awkward."
"So, spill the beans what was sex with Marc really like? Did the earth move?"
"No. Don't get me wrong. The whole thing was brilliant. That feeling of being special, of being chosen was amazing. Being whisked away in that beautiful sports car to an amazing apartment with all that expensive designer furniture and those gorgeous real wood floors covered in rugs where the pile felt like it came up to your ankles. I would say it was like a dream but my dreams have never been that upmarket. And when he took his clothes off his body was an image of perfection that just made you want to drool. I felt really dowdy by comparison. But the sex was just ordinary. It was the price I paid for being there. I had the entire fantasy and Marc got the sex as my part of the deal."
"Damn it. How dare you ruin my dreams. The man is just so fit."
"No doubt about that. His stamina was just amazing. Thing was, he was all about satisfying himself. I was there for the night and he would have somebody else there tonight. He did not have to do anything to make me want to come back so he did not really bother. Jim knows all those little touches and gestures that get me going, when to slow down and when to speed up and all those good things that only happen when you really know someone. Marc looked amazing and I shiver every time I think about what he must have looked like to anybody watching us, but he was only really interested in getting himself off."
