Law of the Heart: Consequential Damages Chapter 01
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is an alternate ending to HeadHunterTales's Law of the Heart. It takes place immediately following the events of the fourth chapter in that story. My thanks go out to HHT for the use of his characters. His willingness to let other author's take a shot at finishing the tale is much appreciated. I've tried to write an ending that he said he was not considering.
This is not a stroke story. Nor is it a tale of bloody revenge. If that is what you are looking for, save yourself some time and look elsewhere. This story deals with the emotions created by the situation and the revenge is commensurate with the crimes.
I have included the last few paragraphs of Chapter four to set the scene.
================
Half way to the rooms they stopped. Juan fished in a small pocket in Jill's shirt and pulled out the electronic key card. Then he whispered in her ear. I could see her lift her head from his chest, raise her arm and point to one of the rooms.
It had a door that opened on the beach area as well as into the hallway on the other side. Reaching what I knew had to be what should have been Jill's and my room, Juan deftly slipped the key card into the French door's lock.
"OK Jill, please say goodnight," I begged. "Say goodnight to him and .... and......"
A soft light switched on in her room, and I could see both bodies standing there in the doorway, profiled in the light. He bent down and kissed my wife....she took one of his hands and pulled him into the room, while his other gently pushed the door shut behind them.
================
As the door closed behind Juan and Jill, I felt like I had just been stabbed in the gut by a sharp spike. My legs could not support my weight and I stumbled back into the trunk of a tree standing by the edge of the path and slowly slipped to the ground staring vacantly out into space.
The emotions and feelings that I was feeling threatened to overcome my ability to function. My body refused to function. I had no energy to move from where I had fallen. My brain was a pile of mush. Coherent thought was an effort as I felt like my brain was sitting in a pile of cotton.
"Why," I thought numbly. "How could Jill do this to us. I thought that she loved me."
As I sat there, a myriad of emotions and feelings ran through my brain and body. Anguish, nausea, despair, disbelief, I was falling into a pit of depression that seemed to have no bottom. The events of the day kept running through my mind in a loop that threatened to overwhelm my ability to go on.
It was all I could do to breathe. Even the simplest thoughts were difficult to complete. Over and over in my mind I kept seeing scenes from the past few hours. Jill standing in Juan's arms on the boat with her nipples rubbing against his chest. Jill walking by me as I stood on the dock without noticing I was there. Jill's sexy dance with Juan at the Luau and her sly smile as she saw her breast hanging out of the bikini top. The casual comfort with which Juan took Jill into his arms. Juan massaging and caressing Jill's breasts in the hot tub.
Mostly, however, I kept reliving the most painful memory of all. Jill grabbing Juan's hand and pulling him into her room.
As these memories ran through my brain, I couldn't help but doubt my actions over the course of the night. "Why didn't I stop her? All I had to do was let her know I was here. If she had known I was here, none of this would have happened."
For a time, I wallowed in my guilt for what had just occurred. I blamed myself. But, as I looked at the situation, I began to realize that I was not to blame. Jill was the cause of my pain.
I may not have stopped her, but nobody forced her to act this way. She was responsible for her own actions. If I could not trust her to act appropriately, what type of marriage could we have? I couldn't watch her all of the time.
I began to doubt Jill. Did she love me as much as I loved her? How could she shame me this way and still love me? Even if she thought I wasn't at the reunion, she should have known that my friends and classmates were there and would know what was going on.
"Even if I did stop her today, what about next time? Did her actions today show how little she cares about me and our marriage?" I wondered.
As these thoughts ran through my brain, I felt a new emotion, anger. As the threads of doubt in Jill grew stronger, so did my anger at how she had behaved. Slowly but surely, my anger overcame the lassitude created by the despair and I decided that it was time to take action. The anger tore away my depression and allowed me the clarity to begin to think and plan again.
"She may be fucking that bastard Mendoza," I thought, "but, I'm not going to just slink away and let it happen. If I don't confront her and let her know exactly how I feel, I'm going to be the laughingstock of all my friends from law school. Its time that I remind her that she's married. My marriage may be over, but I'm not going to just sit here and let her have her fun. They're both going to remember this night for a long time!"
As I grew angrier, I felt the adrenaline kick in. This gave me enough energy to get up off of the ground and start moving. I walked quickly towards the room. But, even through my anger, I remained cautious. I prided myself on being a thinking man; I wasn't about to let my emotions cause me to act foolishly. As a lawyer, I knew that I had better plan out how I intended to confront Jill and Juan.
As I approached the door, my pace slowed and I started to walk as quietly as I could. "Don't get physical," I warned myself. 'You've represented enough guys who get charged with assault for attacking their wives and lovers. It's not going to do you or Jake Jr. any good if you end up losing your license because you take a swing at that asshole. You need to keep your cool. If anything happens let Mendoza start it. All you need to do is go in there and catch them."
Without much hope, I reached out for the door and quietly tried to turn the knob. I wasn't expecting the door to open because Jill was meticulous about locking the door when we were at a hotel. So, I was surprised when it turned in my hand. Another indication of how strangely Jill was acting.
"Just how much of hurry was she in to fuck this bastard? She never acted this eager with me before. Do I even know this woman?"