My thanks go to Techscan and LadyCibelle for their kind assistance with the editing of this story and correcting the usual clangers that keep my critics so happily amused. But I'm sure you'll find something you don't like in the story somewhere.
I would like to point out that my editors do not necessarily agree with my interpretation of the characters or the events portrayed. Any flack should be directed at me. This is a work of fiction and comes solely from my somewhat demented mind.
The Wanderer
Part 5. A different way of looking at things.
Now this was only what you could call a turn-up for the book. In just over three years I had gone from a happily married man to a wronged, cheated on and deserted husband (alright she didn't set out to cheat on me but that's what she did), to revenging hero who had stolen a Casanova's wife. Not too bad a result, for the average guy, even if the Casanova had made it easy for me.
The two of us lived in my lovely house and we had a deal. If Leanne ever got tired of me, she would tell me. We weren't married so, if she wanted to find another man, she had every right do so and move out. But she swore she would never do that, as she loved me a lot more than she had ever loved her ex-husband. Leanne said she hadn't understood what real love was when she married him. She said he was a con artist and he had conned her and all the other women he had shagged while they had been married.
I was a lot fitter than I had ever been now; Leanne had dragged me (kicking and screaming) to the gym almost every day since I had first gone there to meet her. Our sex life was something out of this world. Being fit can have some advantages that I had never dreamed of. My staying power had increased by leaps and bounds but unfortunately I hadn't been able to increase my ejaculation control very much. But you can't have everything.
Leanne had really developed the knack of being able to spot just when I was getting there and when she was in control she would keep me going for hours. I'm afraid I didn't have that kind of discipline myself. Well, you can't have everything but on the whole we had a great time together.
Anyway we complemented one another and our common law union was working out just fine, although I did still bear a massive cross for my wife Anita. Leanne appeared happy to accept that.
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One Monday morning Anita and I were just coming out of the gym and as we entered the coffee lounge. We were in the habit of having a coffee with Abigail our personal trainer, who was a kind-of adopted niece of mine. We noticed that everyone was over by the other door, staring down the corridor. I took a quick look around and noticed through the window I could see several police cars in the car park.
Before I could voice my concern to Leanne that something not pleasant was going down, "All Hell" broke loose; shouting and banging noises came from the other end of the building, where the big boys hang out. You know, the guys who are into serious weight training, boxing and the like. Pandemonium went on for several minutes and then some very dishevelled looking policemen came along the corridor, followed by two of the heavyweights who were frog marching a third, who had his hands cuffed behind his back. As they passed through the coffee lounge, I heard one of the escorts say to the guy in cuffs, "I fucking told you! You fucking idiot. That shit fucks up your fucking mind. But no! You had to keep pumping that shit into yourself. Well, now you've really fucked it up big time."
They passed out of the lounge, so that was all I heard. But the big guy in the handcuffs did look familiar to me although I couldn't place him. I assumed I had seen him around the gym sometime.
Excitement over, we had our coffee and I drove Leanne to the nursery where she worked and then put in an appearance at my office. I'm the boss so I don't have to turn up at all if I don't want to.
The moment I got in, my secretary (she looks after a few of the management really, but she's known as my secretary – boss's privilege) told me that my friend Kara had been trying to track me down. I don't take my mobile into the gym; they had a couple of walk-in thefts there a little while back.
I called Kara at Archers were she works.
"Martin, we fucked up big time!"
"Pardon?" It was unlike Kara to swear.
"We messed up. We forgot about Graham."
I was still confused as to what Kara was talking about.
"Sorry, Kara I'm not with you. What did we forget about Graham?" Come to that, who the fuck was Graham? I didn't have faintest idea what Kara was on about.
"Graham got into Dawn's pants and Kevin found out. Both of them are in hospital and the police are looking for Kevin!"
Oh fuck, now I realised what was going on at the gym and why the guy was so familiar. That was Kevin, Dawn's husband they were hauling away. Dawn must have fallen for Graham's bullshit line.
"Oh bugger, but I think the police have got Kevin. They arrested him at the gym about an hour ago. How is Dawn, did he hurt her much?"
"I don't know; I'm going down to the hospital in a minute. I'll call you later, and can you keep your cell phone switched on? I've left a hundred messages on it."
Whoops, habit of mine keep forgetting to turn it back on.
This was really a big a disappointment; we had warned Dawn about Graham at the same time as we told her about the wager on her honour. Dawn had been shocked and annoyed. We had assumed that once Doug had been put out of the picture, Dawn would have had the sense to keep Graham at arm's length. But it appeared we got it wrong and Dawn had done something silly.
Later Kara called me back and told me that Kevin had caught Dawn and Graham together on Saturday evening. He had knocked Dawn around and kicked the shit out of Graham (Kara's description). Graham was in a bad way but Dawn wasn't too badly injured, just a few bruises and concussion. Kevin was a nut case, not an arsehole. Apparently Dawn had tried to stop Kevin from killing Graham and had taken a couple of punches that weren't intended for her.
Kara told me that Dawn had asked if she could see me. I couldn't figure out why she would want to but I told Kara I'd call in the hospital and see her after I had picked up Leanne from the nursery. Leanne knew who Dawn was from my explanations of how and why I'd come looking for her.
When we got into the ward Dawn was looking a real mess. That pretty face of hers was bruised and swollen.
"Oh, Mr. Shaw, I'm so ashamed and sorry, I let you down. You worked so hard to prevent this from happening." Dawn exclaimed as we walked in.
I really didn't know what to say to her but luckily for me Leanne took over and did all the talking. Within minutes they were chatting like old friends and I was feeling like a gooseberry. By the time they had finished chatting Dawn had been invited to stay with Leanne and me until she felt better. I was alright with this as we did have a big house with plenty of spare rooms.
But I could see it putting the damper on some of Leanne and my night games. We had got very inventive; just about anywhere would do. The massive coffee table in the lounge was one of our favourite places.
Still Leanne was my life partner now and whatever she wanted was all right with me, even if it did put a slight damper on my sex life.
Dawn was released from hospital the following day. We took her home and settled her into a spare room. Leanne and I for some reason still had our own separate rooms. I had the master and Leanne had what had been the guest suite, although she only usually slept in there if I was away.
