Hot Summer Desires

Husband humiliated by wife and Summer reality show gets even

This is my submission for the "

Literotica Summer Lovin' Story Contest 2024

" story contest.

A fairly standard trope in this category, with a few, hopefully, interesting twists. In many of these types of stories, we don't get the benefit of a full complement of characters. It always feels odd since the humiliation and cruelty are so public.

I've noticed a trend with my posted stories. I like to write nuanced, complex characters sometimes, which tends to make a story much longer, like this one. I also like to write stories where the plot and the events supersede the actual characters. Those are shorter, and if you'd prefer that kind of story, click my author name and you'll find 20 or so stories just like that - 10,000 words or less. I say this because the trend I've noticed applies to readers who comment about a story being too long and a waste of their time, and then some of my followers lay into them pretty hard in their own comments. This work is over 20,000 words, so while I hope you take the time to enjoy it, be forewarned, it's an investment of your time.

[Copyright 2024, all rights reserved]

Relax; it's just a story, people!

I stood, stupidly, looking in the mirror after splashing my face with cold water. I was also looking for an explanation, which I didn't find there. After a pretty darn good round of sex, I'd been slapped hard, figuratively and literally, in the face.

Plenty was going through my mind just then, and I suppose I wondered what I would do next. Then I thought about our collective past...

Theresa Daniels, nee McDowell, was my wife. We'd been together for fifteen years as a married couple but I had known her for four years before that, going back to high school. To say Terri, (her nickname used by only a few select people, including me), and I weren't close would be an understatement. I was a pompous kid who felt I always had something to prove. Terri wasn't having any of it though. Whenever I tried to ask her out, I was quickly rebuked. In public, Terri often got the better of me in a back-and-forth war of words.

By my senior year, I'd learned the hard way to stay far away from Theresa McDowell.

College was a more defining time for me. I got along well with the guys I hung around with, and I had equal success with the ladies. I realized somewhere along the way that I could do just fine being myself.

The summer after my freshman year, I was home and attending a party with my old high school buddies. A group of people arrived while several of us were playing beer pong. My team won and I headed off into the kitchen area to get a fresh drink. There I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey Tom," I heard as I turned. To my shock, there was Terri dressed in a white frilly halter top and tight jeans that were ripped at the knees, wearing an equally sexy smile. Behind that smile though, there was nervousness or anxiety, as if she feared I might rebuke her.

"Hi, Terri," I said cautiously, looking at the doorway to see if we had an audience. By my way of thinking she might have been there to pull a prank.

"Slumming it tonight?" I asked with a grin. Terri shrugged her shoulders, not answering the ridiculous question.

We settled into a meager if not meaningless conversation about our first year of college, our classes, and other general topics. Finally, she took in a deep breath and said, "If you're free over the summer, maybe you'd like to hang out sometime?"

Her choice of words wasn't lost on me. "You mean like going to the beach or the library?" I played dumb. "Like as in friends?"

Her expression changed. She had about as much trust in me as I had in her.

"No, silly!" she said a bit louder. "Hang out as in

go

out. Like a date."

"Well, that would be more fun," I jabbed. "What are you doing next Friday night, and do you like midnight bowling?"

Terri seemed to be considering what I asked. I think she expected a fancy dinner somewhere. Raising my eyebrow slightly told her I was serious.

"I've never been bowling," she admitted. "Well, not since I was a kid. Are you sure it'll be fun?"

"I'm sure," I replied. "It will give us a chance to get to know each other. We haven't exactly been friends, and we've both been gone for a year."

Terri and I had a great time. She was actually a lot more fun than I thought she'd be. She also seemed to enjoy my more mature personality and we talked about plenty. She admitted that she thought I was a cocky bastard in high school, plus she had a few steady boyfriends.

I told her I kinda of thought the same about her but admitted that I never took the time to get to know her. Needless to say, we spent a great deal of time together that summer.

The only serious argument we had that summer happened at a dance club when a very drunk and obnoxious former high school boyfriend came to our table and asked her to dance without ever acknowledging me. Terri just headed out to the dance floor with him, never giving me a second look. There were a few things about Terri that night that should have sunk in, or at least stayed in the back of my mind, but I was young and dumb.

When Terri returned to our table after three dances, two fast and one slow, she didn't even get seated before she saw my mad, red face.

"What?" she tried to play it off. Then she broke eye contact. I launched into her about the lack of respect, and everything else.

"Tom," she started in a disciplinary tone, "Dave didn't mean anything by it. We went out for more than half our junior year."

I don't know if she was playing stupid or trying to get the upper hand but I wasn't going to play along.

"Sure, but you're not seeing him now, are you?" I asked with anger in my voice, and she shook her head. "Well, that's something I suppose. What I do know is that you're out with me. He didn't bother to ask, and you just went with him, without a care in the world. I mean, I can leave if you two need some

alone

time!"

As soon as I began, I realized I was reverting to my former self. I could at least act like an adult and state my case at the same time.

I didn't have to correct myself though, because I got the full complement of Terri's Irish heritage. She went off on me in the club, making a spectacle for all to see. Thank God the music was so loud.

Her attack was so fierce that I didn't have time to respond, let alone the mental acuity to formulate any coherent responses, so I just let her give it to me, both barrels, right there in the club. When she finally wore herself out, she took several breaths and then a long pull of her beer. Most of her diatribe had been ranting with no real substance.

"The next time you do that to me," I stared hard at her, "we're done. You hear me? Completely and totally done."

I got up and left her sitting there as I headed for the door. I decided to move slowly toward my car in the parking lot just to see if she picked up on the lifeline I'd tossed her way.

As I slid into the driver's seat, Terri was at my door, almost begging me to wait. "Please, Tom, wait!" she half-wailed. "I'm sorry, okay?" She decided that was a good place to stop talking.

"Sorry for raging," I began. "Sorry for making a fool of yourself and me, or sorry for the disrespect you showed me when DAVE took you out on the dance floor?"

Terri and I did talk a lot that night sitting in my car, both in the parking lot, then after the drunks started piling out, sitting in front of her parents' home. We talked about her over-the-top anger and how it manifested. We talked about all of our past relationships and most importantly, talked seriously about fidelity. I made it clear, and she agreed, what the dance etiquette was going forward, although she admitted that she was still having a hard time understanding what had set me off. I found getting myself under control a little difficult at first, but then I explained it to her, and I must have found the right words.

That turned out to be a breakthrough conversation for us as a couple. Terri had a clear roadmap of what I considered to be cheating, disrespectful, and out-of-bounds.

We went back to our respective schools, mine Michigan State, and hers Ohio State. The town we grew up in, north of Detroit by almost an hour, was a tight-knit community of only five thousand or so residents. Everyone knew everyone else's business. We called each other almost every night for the first two months. I looked forward to us being together for Thanksgiving.

As soon as I pulled up to her parent's house the day before Thanksgiving though, she came out solemnly and I knew something was wrong. I feared the worst; that she'd found somebody else.

"I quit school," Terri said as soon as she got in my car.

"Why?" I asked, stunned. "It's your junior year. What happened?"

Terri seemed embarrassed and didn't answer, looking for the right words, I guess. "Social reasons." She finally said.

"What do you mean?" I asked trying to pull the information from her.

"The people I was around," she answered with a deep sigh. "My roommate for one."

Terri went on to tell me that her dormmate was a promiscuous little minx who was constantly trying to get Terri to go to frat parties with her. The only other friends she'd made were in fact, the roommate's friends more than hers, and acted just as slutty.

"You could have simply said 'no'," I told her.

She nodded, but added, "I could have but the peer pressure was too intense. I wasn't going to cheat on you."

That last bit took me aback. "So you wanted to do the things your friends were doing?"

"No, it wasn't like that," she responded. "Honestly, Tom, I could have done some things. I mean I'm not very experienced, except with what we've done together. But I didn't want that reputation. The guys there, I mean, they're more immature than the guys I dated in high school. I didn't want to be known as the campus bicycle."

What she said made perfect sense but I realized her main reason didn't involve me - her boyfriend. That also threw me for a loop.

Terri and I had a low-key holiday with family. She seemed nervous - afraid even - of my returning to school. There wasn't much I could do to calm those fears.

None of it mattered, in the end as I received a life-changing call on January 23

rd

.

"Tom, it's Terri," she said, too formally. After a pause, she cried out, "I'm pregnant!"

Plans were made. My schooling was put on hold. I packed up my belongings and moved back home. A shotgun wedding ensued. Everything moved so fast and everyone who had an opinion gave it. Oftentimes, I felt like I was riding the Tilt-a-whirl right after winning a hot dog eating contest.

Both sets of parents were very supportive. I only occasionally saw the look of disappointment on their faces. They chipped in to get us an affordable two-bedroom apartment and they were already buying diapers and other child necessities before Terri was at the six-month mark. Terri's dad helped me get a job at Watson Builders, Inc., a decently sized contractor in the area. My dreams of designing houses and other structures would have to wait.

Through all the chaos, Terri and I grew closer. That was something that always made me feel warm in my heart. She could have been bitter, but she always made lemonade instead. There was tangible love in our hearts for one another.

Steven Riley was born on August 29

th

, a healthy beautiful boy. He was a week early, but as strong as an ox. Terri and my life had been enriched beyond belief.

After Steven's first birthday, Terri found a job in the county library thirty hours a week, while both her Mom and mine helped take care of our boy.

I started taking night classes online toward my degree. Money was tight, there was no way to spin it. We were on a wing and a prayer, just like the song says.

I took strength in Terri's tenacity. She was a fighter for her family and she inspired me at the times she looked wiped out and fatigued but pushed through. Amidst all the hustle and bustle, I made plans to get away with Terri for a short weekend once per month so we could reconnect in our love.

Her job at the library didn't hold up for long when Terri announced she was again pregnant. I worked a lot of overtime whenever I could and was able to work with the apartment complex to lease an end unit downstairs. It was still two bedrooms but had about another three-hundred-fifty square feet.

With the birth of Angela Lynn, the absolute apple of my eye, I was also given a promotion to site foreman. Terri went back on the pill as soon as she could.

We worked hard to provide for and raise our kids right. I finally caught a break when Steven was twelve years old. By that point, both Terri and I had become experts at managing our meager finances. Having two devoted sets of parents and living in a small community certainly helped. I had received my degree just a month earlier and was offered a job in my field of architectural engineering with Burton Industries, a regional company about halfway between our town and Detroit. Our monthly income immediately doubled and I was doing the work I loved. After working for Burton for just a few months, Terri and I bought a four-bedroom house just outside the city limits.

Those few years were great for our family. The children thrived and my wife and I settled into our patterns. Terri went back to work part-time at the library when a position opened.

For me, though, my fondest memories would always be the years we struggled. We'd rarely fight, even though we were frazzled. We always made up and kissed each other goodnight with a sincere "I love you."

The mundane life of having enough, but still barely getting by seemed to dull our senses. We had money but the kids always needed something. The house always needed something. I started to wonder if we'd ever get far enough ahead to truly relax.

Then a pandemic hit. Almost nothing was being built, except by large national companies. Burton held on to their employees as best they could. I was working on-site as well as drawing plans. Others in my department either left on their own or were let go for not agreeing to do more work for the same pay. Terri remained at the library until the day it closed.

As the virus subsided, we found ourselves with a new problem - several problems all at once. The housing market dried up. Prices skyrocketed as developers tried to right their greedy ships. Folks, including many from our town, were moving from blue states to red, and vice versa, desperately trying to find their villages and live near like-minded people. Remote work emptied the office buildings of traditional workspaces. Many were empty with 'for lease' signs out front.

Eventually, for Burton's very survival, fifteen of their twenty-one remaining employees were laid off. I was one of them.

Terri and I had built a small savings account of five thousand dollars. I had an additional fourteen grand in my 401K. We were in trouble again.

Our part of the country usually had more than our fair share of snow each year. Our town, being on a large river that fed water from one great lake to another, saw a lot of that lake-effect snow. That year, though, we had April showers and May flowers. Spring arrived early.

And the heat was unbearable for June. Muggy and in the mid-nineties for two weeks. Terri and I were coming unglued. Neither of us wanted to blame the other, but we often did, I think, even if just in the back of our minds.

"Mom, Can't we turn the air conditioner on for just a little while," my then fifteen-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Angela whined just before dinner. "I'm like, dying here!"

Her seventeen-year-old brother Steven was old enough to understand our financial woes but still looked hopeful. That was a very low point in my life. One the lowest. I couldn't provide for my family, and even though I knew it wasn't necessarily my fault, it hurt.

Terri saw the discomfort on my face but never broke with her half-smile. "No kids, I'm sorry," she told them soothingly. "Use the spray bottle on your face, sit in front of the fan, or go out and run through the sprinkler." The kids huffed and went outside.

My wife's mood seemed to improve in the week leading up to the Fourth of July. Our parents and Terri's brother, Peter and his family, were coming for a big barbeque like always. This year they were bringing the meat and most of the fixings. I tapped our savings for a little money and took the kids to the fireworks stand.

In addition, Maggie our neighbor was always a staple at every family get-together. There was a specific reason for that. Maggie was a widow who'd already been living in our neighborhood when we bought the house. Even though I had just gotten a job and Terri was going to work at the library, we were still catching up on our bank account.

Maggie offered to watch the kids when needed, which was only three or four days a week. She also picked them up from school until they were old enough. The kids loved her warm caring spirit and remained close to her even as they grew into adulthood.

Stan, Maggie's husband, and 'love of her life' as she often referred to him was a fighter pilot in the Navy. He died suddenly during a 'training accident' over the Mediterranean. Maggie was a salt-of-the-earth type with an extremely positive outlook on life. I asked her about it one day when Terri had to cover an extra four-hour shift at the library.

"I grew up in the church," she told me. "Although I'm not a church-goer, I believe in being kind to everyone and not judging them. That doesn't mean I'm not judgmental at times, because I'm only human. I believe that people reap what they sow. Everyone. Since I can only control myself and my actions, that's what I try to do."

While Terri and I were thirty-eight, Maggie was forty-five. She kept herself in great shape, claiming her Pilates class as the reason. Had I not known her age, I would have easily pegged her around the same as my wife and me.

"Wow!" I answered. "That's incredibly insightful, the way you explained it, I mean. Very good advice. Did your husband subscribe to the same values?" I realized then I had never mentioned her hubby out of respect.

"To a point," she sighed while stirring the spaghetti sauce. "He was a big dreamer, but we complimented one another, and I was very content to be his wife. I'll always love him. So much so, that I'm only going to ever be with another man if it's God's will. I'll not go looking for another love."

I always found Maggie's outlook on life refreshing, not only because she had it, but also, because she lived it.

The barbeque was a success as always. Peter had brought a bunch of new microbrew beers that we sampled. I took it easy because I was always in charge of the pyrotechnics. The kids had a blast as Terri and our parents sat on the deck sipping wine. The entire day helped me forget our troubles.

Terri was feeling amorous after everyone left and the kids went to the city fireworks with friends. I was beat but never one to turn down my lovely wife.

"Leave that," she said in a sexy voice as I was helping to clean up. "We can do it in the morning. I want you - upstairs - now." Who was I to argue?

Bathing in the afterglow of a wonderful love-making session, Terri leaned into my chest, fitting perfectly.

"I've found a solution to our money problems," she said softly and sweetly. I almost missed the words. Almost.

"What? What solution?" I asked moving my head so I could look down at her.

"A few weeks ago, I found an advertisement on Instagram for a TV game show," she continued. I applied and was accepted. The grand prize is $350,000."