February Still Sucks

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."

"Those fantasies about Jim just became more likely. I will bet you are sorry I called you."

"No, you have just made me realise something. I talked about all the little things Jim does for me in bed. I have just realised that I have not been doing the same back to him. There are things that he likes, those little touches and encouragements and whispers and I can't remember the last time I did them for him. Fuck! I am really going to need to get my head back in the game."

"Well, that one bout of sex with Marc might actually improve your sex life. Result!"

"Two."

"What?"

"We did it again this morning when we woke up."

"You had better not tell Jim that. You said that fucking Mark was the price you paid. Once in the night under the influence of wine and fantasy and being swept off your feet you might get away with after a suitable penance. Doing it again stone cold sober in the morning and being fully aware of what you were doing then he will definitely divorce you. You will have paid the entrance fee twice."

"Good point. You may have just saved my marriage. Got to go -- got a call coming in. See you soon and we can go through things in a bit more detail face-to-face."

The incoming call was from Mrs Porter. She asked when I was going to pick up the children and the moment she asked I felt my stomach lurch and my life fall apart.

I rushed up to the bedroom and Jim's suitcase was not there and when I checked some of his clothes were missing. I hoped he had just gone somewhere for the day to get over what had happened. He would not have gone back to his parents as there would be too many questions. He would either stay with his brother Karl or get a motel room.

I did not know whether to call him or to give him space to think. I went with calling as I was not sure I wanted him to spend time thinking about what I had done. The phone rang out.

When I picked the kids up Mrs. Porter immediately realised something was wrong and kept asking me what it was and what she could do to help. I am ashamed to say I was rather abrupt with her and just bundled Emma and Tommy into the car and got away from there as quickly as possible.

Of course the first thing the kids did was to run through the house looking for Jim and came back to me asking "Where's daddy?" I told them that he had to go away for a day or two and they sulked for all of the 5 minutes their young minds were capable of before starting to rush around again.

I cried in bed that night. Emma came in later and cuddled up to me saying, "Don't cry, mummy. Daddy will be back tomorrow."

He was not.

The kids had started to sense something was wrong.

On Monday I called his firm to see if he was there but as soon as I got through I was immediately wrong-footed.

"Oh," said their receptionist, "We were worried about him. We knew he must be ill when he did not come in his morning. I hope it is nothing serious?"

I covered as quickly as I could. "No. He is just running a bit of a temperature so we decided not to risk him spreading anything to his colleagues."

"That's just like Jim. Always thinking of other people. Give him our love and wish him a speedy recovery and don't worry I will pass on your message to HR and let everyone else know."

I felt like I had been kicked in the gut but it was made worse a couple of hours later.

My phone rang and I could see it was Jim calling. I answered it but paused for a moment to gather my thoughts and before I could say anything the caller said, "Is that Linda?"

"Yes, who is that and why are you using Jim's phone?"

"Its the garage. Can you tell Jim he left his phone in the car? We don't want him panicking and looking everywhere for it. We will keep it in the office for him. He can pick it up when it is convenient."

"Why is his car there. Does something need fixing?"

"No, he sold it to us on Saturday. Just remind him that we will be happy to get him a good deal on a new car when he starts to look for a replacement."

I was now more worried than ever and I could only think of one person who might know what was going on and I really did not want to talk to him. Jim's brother, Karl. Relations between us had recently cooled and I had noticed him becoming increasingly sarcastic on the few times he talked to me.

"Hi, Linda. I wondered when you would call."

"Hi Karl. So you obviously know what is going on. Where's Jim, I need to talk to him."

"I have no doubt about that but I have no idea where he is. He hasn't told me."

"Then why were you expecting my call?"

"Because I have seen Marc's video blog. I would have walked out on you and assumed the only reason you would bother calling me is because Jim is missing."

"What? What video blog?"

"The one he posted on Sunday about what you did on Friday night."

"Oh fuck."

"Well, that's what Marc was hinting."

"Why would he do something like that?"

"Who, Jim or Marc?"

"I don't fucking know. Both of them. Wait. Let's start with Marc and what he said and why."

"OK. Let's start with the why as that will make more sense. You know I am a big football supporter and I read everything to do with our team even all the rumours on the sports and supporters' websites."

"I know. That is what makes you such an interesting person to women everywhere."

"Wow, and just after you asked for my help. Do you want me to hang up?"

"No, I'm sorry. Please tell me."

"Well, Marc's performance is down and he is losing his star status. Could be his age or that he is doing too much partying and not enough training. Thing is he is now looking to what he can do next. He has grown used to an expensive lifestyle and wants to keep it."

"That may be of interest to you but what has that got to do me?"

"I am coming to that. That is just the background to make sense of the rest."

"Sorry."

"You know that a couple of years ago he started supporting local events and generally doing stuff that would make people love him. That was something he had never worried about before, but he was now looking for a career after football and a reputation as a good guy was something that would help with those plans. He was not famous enough to go into sports commentating but had noticed that a number of better looking and well built sports stars had moved across into films."

"Yeah, I have noticed that as well."

"He started a type of "day in the life" feed to build up interest. Trouble was that it did not actually seem to pick up much of a following because it was all a bit boring. Even football fans slated it."

"OK. Still waiting for you to get to where it involves me."

"Just getting to it. He changed tack. He started looking towards a more adult market. The rumour was that he was positioning himself towards leading man roles in TV and films based on his looks and the fact that women loved him. He proved that by picking up a different woman every night. You were Friday's pick-up. The fact that he could do it in front of your husband just added to his lady-killer reputation and would have been a big publicity bonus for him."

"Oh, fuck. What did it show? Was he wearing a wire.? No he could not have been. I would have noticed when he... fuck,fuck,fuck!"

"No, there are couple of men with those little action video cameras that follow him of an evening so they don't get close, otherwise you would see them filming and because they are not close they don't pick up much in the way of conversation. They show you dancing rather too closely with Marc. You getting your purse and leaving in his car. Jim's argument at the table with your so called friends. One of them then follows Marc's car and shows you going in to his apartment and the both of you kissing and being rather "handsy". They then show you coming out of his apartment the next morning and getting in a taxi. Doubt they had been there all night so either he contacted them or Marc throws all his discards out around the same time each morning. So, basically, everyone knows what happened and you are so far up shit creek even a paddle would not help you."

"That Marc is a complete and utter cunt. Fucking lowlife bastard."

"Well, I would say he is selfish. He may be concerned about his own future, but that simply makes him pragmatic and in itself does not make him a totally bad person. I need to point out you are an adult and agreed to do this so you need to step up and take the blame for your own actions. In fact, up until now I had thought you were actually a fully-functioning sensible adult, but I have now revised that opinion downwards. You could always have said no."

"Is he allowed to do this? Surely there are privacy laws that say the fucker can't put up that video without my consent?"

"Wow. No response to the comment that you could just have said no. Not worried about how you are going to explain this to Jim and your family, just worried about Marc's video. You must be pretty confident. Anyway, nearly all the shots were taken in public spaces so you would have trouble claiming privacy.."