We were known as the Three Musketeers Plus One. There were myself, Ryan, Jack and Bobby. Lanie was the Plus One and later became my wife. Our 'gang' happened by coincidence. Our families lived in the same neighborhood. We were of the same age and in the same class at school. We did everything, good or bad, together.
We played doctor as children and became familiar with the body parts of the opposite sex from each other. Our explorations were limited to brief touching as our parents had threatened eternal damnation if we had premarital sex. As we dated in high school, we would compare notes on what 'base' we had reached with our date except when one of us dated Lanie. Of course, we lied about our successes.
We were known as practical jokers. Just a few examples: The principal's car was toilet papered. Our old hag Algebra teacher had her dress superglued to her chair. For graduation, we snuck into the school and built a six-foot high concrete block wall on the main hallway of the school. That last one almost kept me from graduating as I was the one with the construction background. There are too many examples to present in this brief story.
Jack and Bobby went off to college. Lanie went to Beauty School and I went to trade school for drafting and construction. I wanted to work with my father in the construction business. He was the crew chief for the owner, Ben Stone. It was his job to assess potential jobs, prepare the bids, and see to It that the right material was delivered at the right time to the job site. If a project was behind schedule, he pitched in wherever needed. It was a job I wanted to eventually take over. I just didn't know it would be so soon.
My father was killed in an accident on a job site about two years after I started working with him. Mom had left for another man years ago. I was on my own, but, at least, I was used to taking care of myself and the house. Mr. Stone called me in and asked if I wanted the crew chief job. Stupidly, I argued against myself because I thought I was too inexperienced. I doubted the crew would be willing to take direction from me. Mr. Stone said that he and the foreman had talked. Max, the foreman, had confidence in me. He said he felt loyalty to me and believed he could talk to the crew and convince them to give me a try. Luckily the guys cut me some slack until I caught on.
As far as Three Plus One, we knew that one of the guys would probably wind up marrying Lanie. It happened to be me. She graduated from Beauty School and started working in her aunt's salon. Being the only two in town from the Three Plus One kind of made our marriage almost inevitable. Jack flunked out of college and returned to town after a few years. I got him a job on our construction crew. Bobby got hurt playing football and gave up college when he was told he could never play again. He moved back soon after Jack and found a decent job at a factory. Soon both found girls they became serious with. Neither were originally from here.
Before long, the old gang was back with the addition of wives for Bobby and Jack. Their wives were warned about the antics of the gang and were soon talked into joining in our highjinks, although half-heartedly. After a few years of doing almost everything together, I matured (my version of the reason I became less inclined to play jokes) while the others kept going strong. It was our trip to the Bahamas that finally did it for me.
The resort where we went had a nude beach. Lanie, Jack and Bobby fed us enough drinks and teased us until all six of us were in the nude together. The gang all remarked as to how each of our bodies had changed over the years. Jack and Bobby's wives were very self-conscious as they did not share the history of our earlier sexual explorations. Once they saw how little a deal it seemed to us, they relaxed.
I can't say we were totally unaffected by the scene. All of us guys kept semi to full erections almost the whole time because it was the first time we had seen the new wives in the flesh and it had been a long time since they had seen Lanie. Her body had changed, especially her breast size. In my opinion, Lanie, Jack and Bobby had lustful looks and the touchy-feely teasing we normally shared with each other seemed to take a different slant when we were all naked. Jack and Bobby's wives refused to participate beyond taking their swim suits off.
At dinner that night, Lanie, Jack and Bobby made sexual innuendoes every chance they had. I spoke up, "One of these days, you all are going to get so drunk or bold enough to go too far and our friendship will be damaged if not destroyed." My comment was poo-pooed by the three. When I looked at Lanie, however, I saw a different reaction. Having known her most of her life and being a good poker player, I saw the light bulb go on over her head. She was going to use my comment on the danger of the nude adventure to create a new practical joke. I had a pretty good idea what it would be.
It was on a Friday night a couple of weeks later, I was sent a video. It showed Lanie giving Jack a blowjob while Bobby was taking her from behind. Then they reversed places. It appeared heavily edited and didn't last very long. At the end of the video, they all made a plea for me to join them next time. Jack and Bobby promised their wives would join too.
Later that Friday night
Lanie, Jack and Bobby laughed a long time at what they speculated would be Ryan's reaction. Once Lanie had confirmation that her husband had looked at the email and the video attached, she and the boys came over to Lanie and Ryan's house. They had trouble stopping laughing. Lanie was glad to see Ryan's car was still in the driveway. "Good, he hasn't done something stupid like going to get drunk."
They opened the door still giggling at what they thought was their best joke ever. Lanie started yelling for Ryan when she opened the door. "Ryan, we're home. We've got another video to show you. Come on out. Don't be a spoil sport." There was no answer. "He's probably sulking somewhere. I'll go find him."
Lanie looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. She went in his office and noted his laptop was missing. Their safe was open. All the money was gone as well as Ryan's passport. "Oh shit." She ran upstairs calling Ryan's name. Ryan's toiletries and some of his summer clothes was gone. On his dresser was a note and his wedding ring. The note said, "Now you guys can fuck each other all you want."
Lanie went downstairs and told Jack and Bobby what she had seen. They were glum for a little bit when Bobby started out laughing. "That asshole figured it out. Now he's playing a joke on us." All three joined in laughter. They were sure that was right. Jack suggested that Lanie send the video showing how the first video was staged, just in case. Doubt crept back into the three's mind, but they had trouble believing anything really bad would happen.
Almost simultaneously, Jack and Bobby's phones went off. It was their wives. Their conversations was almost identical. "I just got a copy of the video from Ryan. Don't bother coming home. I'll see a lawyer Monday. You'll regret this."
Jack and Bobby had Lanie make a copy of the second video to go show their wives that it was just a joke. Then they hurried home. They promised to call each other with how it had gone. Within a few hours, both reported that the second video had not made as much difference in the attitude of their wives as they had hoped. Both wives said they would still have divorce papers drawn up but hold them until they calmed down. They wanted to speak to Ryan again before deciding what to do. Both husbands had to promise to stop the practical jokes. Time with Lanie without their being present was also now off limits.
Lanie sent Ryan a copy of the second video as soon as she could. In her email message, she said, "You know I couldn't be that cruel to have actually had sex with our best friends" as further evidence to support the first video being fake. After several hours, she started calling relatives and co-workers to see if Ryan was there. She called his favorite bar. No one had seen him or knew where he was. She waited and worried. Monday came.
