Law of the Heart: Consequential...ch. 04

Law of the Heart: Consequential Damages Chapter 04

At first light, I woke from my restless slumber. I carefully disentangled myself from Jill and slipped out of bed. Over the course of the night, I had decided that this morning might be easier on Jill and I if it appeared to our classmates that I had gotten in late last night as Jill had told Juan. I wanted to retrieve my clothing and briefcase from the Marina before any of our classmates were out and about.

As I tried to quietly get dressed, Jill stirred in the bed and opened an eyed groggily. As she saw me dressing, I could see the fear in her face as she struggled to wake up. She thought that I was leaving for good.

I sat down on the bed and kissed her. "Don't worry, I'm just going to run over to the Marina to get my stuff. I'll be back before you know it. Go back to sleep."

Jill nodded and gave me a sleepy kiss. "Hurry back."

As I walked over to the locker, I tried once again to make some sense of what had happened. Jill and I had skated along the edge of an abyss and barely avoided catastrophe. I knew that we would need to continue to work on the issues that we had both brought up in our conversation last night. We had both acted stupidly and I knew that the emotions that we had felt would need to be addressed in much greater detail.

I had thought that our marriage had been perfect. I know knew that I had fooled myself. I had been oblivious to what had been happening around me. I resolved to make the effort necessary to make my marriage better and I told myself that I would make sure that Jill made the effort too. I knew that I loved Jill and that she loved me. Together we could resolve whatever issues remained.

Of more immediate concern, I knew that Jill and I needed to decide what to do about today. I knew that I was going to be accosted by classmates who would want to talk about Jill's behavior. Some of these people would be motivated by their friendship for me, but a lot of it would be the petty maliciousness of human behavior.

I knew that we could avoid a lot of the worst gossip by presenting a strong united front. If we went out in the morning together and I let people know that Jill had told me about her behavior, we would be able to quell a lot of the gossip. We would still have friends asking if we were OK, but those I could deal with. It was the people who took glee in other people's misery that I wanted to avoid.

The bigger question was what to do about Juan, Hector and Sally. I knew that I had to pay the three of them back and soon. I just didn't know how and I wasn't sure that I could convince Jill to help me.

When I got back to the room, I slipped my clothes off and slid back into bed beside Jill. As soon as she felt me next to her, she turned over and reached for me. Last night, we had both been too exhausted to even think about making love. But now, we desperately needed to make love.

There was nothing exotic or unusual about our technique, nor did we engage in a lot of foreplay. Neither of us was in the mood to tease or deny our partner pleasure. Rather our actions were driven by a hunger to reaffirm our commitment to each other. We both wanted immediate gratification. Jill wanted me inside her as soon as she was wet enough to accept me and I was only too glad to oblige her.

There was nothing gentle about our sex. It was a rut; I took her to show her that she was mine. She opened up herself to me to show that she wanted me. I drove into her almost frantically with a degree of passion and force that normally would have had Jill begging me to slow down. But today, she welcomed the force of my strokes and wrapped her legs around me while begging me to go faster and harder.

At the pace we were going neither of us could last for long. Jill stiffened and her whole body spasmed in a massive orgasm. As her muscles clenched around me, I roared and shot a massive load deep and collapsed on top of her totally spent. She kept her legs wrapped around my back as she purred in satisfaction. Neither of us wanted to move and break the physical bond between us. We just stayed there until I became totally limp and slipped from her.

Finally, I rolled off to the side and took a deep breath. Jill was unwilling to let go of me just yet and rolled over and cuddled into me. She bent her top leg and threw it atop my crotch as she ran her hands up and down my torso. I knew that we were not done, but just taking a short break to rejuvenate. For a few minutes, we cuddled in silence, but as time went on, I could see that Jill was still struggling with issues from last night.

"Jake honey," she murmured as she played with my nipples. "How are we going to get out of this mess? I really screwed up last night. Half the class must think I'm a cheating slut who runs around on you."

"I hate to say it Jill, but you might be right. But I have an idea. When we go down to breakfast, I'll pull you over my lap, drop your shorts and give you a hard spanking in front of the entire class."

"WHAT!!!" Jill screeched sitting up. I laughed at her reaction as she sat there with a wild look on her face. She glared at me as she realized that she had been had but then dissolved into a fit of giggles as she cuddled back into me. I knew that she would pay me back later, but it had been worth it.

Jill still had a lot of guilt over her behavior last night. I knew that I had to get her mind on solutions rather than the blame game in order for us to move forward. I had needed to break the tension. My joke had the desired the effect.

"Seriously," I said as she snuggled in. "You might have lost some so called friends last night. Some of those assholes are going to want to take a shot at you and some of the wives are going to want you to stay away from their husbands. Far away. And you know the gossips are going to try to have a field day. At least we will be able to figure out who our real friends are. But I think we can handle it.

"I was thinking about this when I went down to the marina," I continued. "There might be a way to minimize the damage from last night. Most of the class didn't see what happened. A lot of them walked away when Hector and Maria started to go wild. So, while they saw you dance with Juan, most of them left before you got too wild. And the only ones who saw you in the hot tub or leave with Juan were Hector, Maria, Sally and Tom.

"I think we should use one of your favorite tactics and get proactive. We need to spin the situation, put it on our terms. We need to go out together later this morning and show people that we are very much in love. I also need to let people know that you told me about last night in great detail. If I can cut them off, tell them that I know you acted crazy and that I forgive you, it doesn't give them much room to attack you. It will be a little embarrassing for you, but it will shift the focus of the rumors. People won't think you cheated, they will just think you got wasted and lost control.

"The other thing we need to make sure of is that everyone knows that while you got wild, nothing really bad happened. So what, you got drunk and danced a sexy dance. It may not be acceptable behavior, but it is forgivable."

Jill looked up at me with a worried look. "What about the hot tub. How can I explain letting Juan feel me up?" Jill grimaced. "Or letting Juan walk me back to the room?"

"What about the hot tub?" I asked. "You got a back rub and he got carried away. If it comes up, I'll let people know that I am willing to forgive you for it, but I am pissed at Juan. He's the one that acted like the jerk. Besides, I think I have a way to keep Juan, Hector and Maria quiet about the hot tub. That just leaves Sally and Tom who actually saw what happened and I don't think Tom will say much."

I took this opportunity to feel her out on payback. "Babe, you know we have to get some pay back on Juan, Hector and Sally to shut them up, right?"

She didn't look angry which I took as a good sign. She just looked puzzled. "What do you mean? I can see why you want to pay back Juan, but why Hector and Sally?"

"Lets start with Sally first," I responded. "The more you talked last night, the more convinced I became that Sally set you up to cheat on me. She set the idea in your head even before you got here. She was the one who hid your top on the boat. She encouraged you to flirt with Juan last night. She told you that she wanted to watch me for my reactions, but she spent the night watching you instead. Finally, she was the one who seemed to be pushing you to go further and further all night long.

"The only thing that I can't figure out is why. I don't know if she is a voyeur, has some cuckold fantasy that she is trying to live vicariously through you, or just plain doesn't like me. Whatever the case, she wasn't acting like a friend to you or me. She didn't seem to care if you destroyed your marriage."

Jill absently ran her hands up and down my torso as she thought about what I had said. "I don't know if she tried to set me up in advance," she finally replied, "but she did want me get together with Juan. Now that I think of it, she has been pushing Juan at me ever since we got here. She was the one who waved Juan and Hector over to our table Thursday night." Jill snorted. "She pushed me to accept the invitation on the boat too. I think that I need to talk to Sally."

I decided to press my luck. "How much you want to bet that the first thing Sally does is try to get you away from me so she can get details?"

Jill laughed ruefully. "No bet. I think that you're trying to take advantage of me. Jake, you've convinced me that I need to talk to Sally. I'll make sure that she doesn't talk about last night. Can you trust me enough to take care of it myself? She's supposed to be my friend. I need to find out what in the hell she is playing at. I told you last night, I'm sick of games."

I thought for a moment before nodding reluctantly. "Alright, I'll let you have the first shot at Sally, but let me know if you need any help. I think that I owe her some payback too.

"You also asked about Hector. The reason I think he needs some payback is because he was a willing participant in the switch with Juan. This whole thing about them switching off bothers the hell out of me. That's non-consensual sex. Hell, it's criminal sexual battery in Florida if you think about it. Even if you had agreed to sex with Juan, you didn't agree to fuck Hector. Do you think Maria knows about this?"

Jill shook her head. "No, she's a bit of an airhead and certainly isn't shy about showing off, but she's jealous of Hector too. She made it a point to politely warn me off Hector yesterday. I think that that the reason she shows off is to show him that he doesn't have to stray that he has something good at home. I think that she would kill Hector if she ever thought he was sleeping with someone else."

I looked at her and went on. "Don't forget the other side too. A switch works both ways. Juan was planning on fucking her too." Jill grimaced and nodded her head.

Suddenly, plans to pay back Juan and Hector jumped into my mind and I gave her an evil smile. "Jill, do you remember how you discovered the switch back in law school? What gave them away?"

"Juan has a small mole on the back of his neck. I used to feel it when I ran my fingers through his hair. He also has a scar on his left elbow. Why?"

"I just thought of a way to get back at both Juan and Hector and maybe teach them the dangers of screwing around. After Juan's comments last night, I can almost guarantee that he is going to be a smart-ass today. He's such an arrogant asshole that by now he's probably convinced himself that the only reason you didn't sleep with him was because I was on the way.

"He's going to try and rub my nose in what happened. I'm going to need your help to stop him. We need to make sure that everyone knows you slapped his face and rejected him. Then I'm going to give him and Hector something else to worry about."

Jill smiled up at me and nodded her agreement. As she snuggled into me, she slid her fingers down towards my groin. "Tell me do we have to get up right away?"

I smiled back at her and let my fingers wander too. "I'm sure we won't be missed for a while. Let's plan on a late breakfast."

"You know Jake, if you really wanted to, I wouldn't mind a spanking too much, as long as it was between the two of us and not too hard." Jill confessed with a blush.

I smiled. I had the feeling that Round two was going to be quite different from Round one. "Let me think about that." I murmured as I bent down to kiss her. I wanted Round two to be exciting and memorable for both of us. As I slowly traced my lips down her neck towards her taught nipples, I smiled to myself and thought that it was time to start Round two in earnest.

An hour later, we had Round three interrupted our efforts to clean up in the shower. I'm not going to tell you if her ass was red or if she had trouble sitting down. After all, a couple needs to keep some secrets.

About eleven thirty, we finally managed to get dressed and headed out arm in arm to grab some breakfast and greet our classmates. I did see some strange looks and knowing smiles flashed my way. I knew that the rumor mill was about to go into full production and that I needed to head them off early before they started to run wild. So, I was glad to Steve and Meredith sitting at a table near the pool area.

Steve was my best friend at law school and stood up for me when Jill and I got married. I returned the favor when he married Meredith six years ago. The four of us had remained close and got together for vacations whenever possible, but we didn't get to see each other as often as I would like. I knew that, more than anyone else at the reunion, Steve and Meredith cared about Jill and I. They would be the perfect choice to reassure people that I was OK with what had happened the night before.

After hitting the buffet line, Jill and I headed over to sit with Steve and Meredith. A few of our other friends saw us and started to drift over to the table as well. As Steve saw us approach, his eyes widened and I could see the worry on his face. He didn't know how much I knew about what had gone on.

"Jake, when did you get in?" He exclaimed.

'Late last night." I grimaced. "I understand I missed a wild party last night. Jill was telling me all about it in bed this morning."

I glanced over at Jill pointedly and leaned forward towards Steve and continued in a stage whisper. "Jill tells me that she was a bad girl yesterday. She tells me that she got wasted and did some things that she probably shouldn't have done. She confessed all her sins and asked me to forgive her. What do you think, doe she deserve it?"

Steve and Meredith both looked down at their plates uncomfortable at the question. I let it sit there a second before I started to laugh. "Come on guys. You think I don't know how Jill acts when she gets wasted? She got topless on the boat and got crazy dancing with Juan last night. I love her, and I trust her. She told me all about it."

As I laughed, Steve and Meredith both breathed big sighs of relief. Over the years they had come to care for both Jill and I and didn't feel comfortable sitting in the middle. "I do want to hear about yesterday from you though," I confided to them. "If Jill was that wasted, she might have forgotten about some of what happened."

For the next hour or so, Steve and Meredith, and eventually some of our other friends took turns telling me about what had happened since the reunion had began. They were hesitant at first because they were still not sure how I would react, but as time went on they relaxed and got into telling the story. I just sat there and listened, making sarcastic or humorous comments about my wife's behavior.

I had reasons for wanting the story to be told this way. First, by the tone of my comments, I could make it clear that I was comfortable about what had happened. We turned the story into a good-natured roast of Jill. Sure she got embarrassed as her friends ragged on her behavior, but it was all in good fun. It turned what could have been a poisonous episode into just another war story about the time that Jill got wasted. By addressing the issue head on, we managed to avoid malicious comments or questions about her behavior.

On a related point, by having my friends tell me the story, I was able to point out that while she had done some wild things, the behavior for the most part was not too over the top. I did this by my questions, comments and jokes. By pointing out the things that she could have done and did not, I minimized her behavior.

Another task that I accomplished was to shift the blame. I emphasized the behavior of Juan and Sally while minimizing Jill's loss of control. While not accusing anyone of anything, I wanted to get my classmates thinking about whom had started the situation. This allowed me to set up my pay back for Juan as well as I didn't hide the fact that I was pissed at him for hitting on my wife.

In short, I used every trick in my litigator's arsenal to make Jill good and to pin responsibility on the other guy.

My final reason for having the story told is one that I was not too proud of. It allowed me to corroborate Jill's recitation from the night before of those things that I hadn't seen. I was glad to hear that she had told me the salient points with only minor discrepancies.

Finally, Steve looked over to me with an amazed grin on his face. "I don't know, Jake. If Jill had been my wife and did some of that shit, I would have been pissed at her. I'd probably be at a bar right now wondering if my marriage was over."

I shook my head and laughed. "Steve, you've got to understand. I trust Jill and can forgive her for going crazy every once in a while. Even when she gets a little wild, I know that she is not going to do anything to damage our marriage. Besides, I didn't have anything to worry about as long as it was Juan that was hitting on her. She has better taste than to fall for Juan's crock of bull. She married me didn't she?"

I looked at Steve with a mock frown on my face. "Of course, if it was you that was hitting on her, it would be a different story. Then I might have reason to get worried."

Meredith broke in at this point and wagged her finger at Steve. "Don't get any ideas, big boy. You are mine."

At this comment we all broke out laughing as Steve started to blush. Jill mock growled at me and smacked me on the arm. "Behave."

By now, I was feeling better about our chances of salvaging the situation. Most of the people I cared about from my class had accepted our spin on yesterday. I knew that I would still get some snide comments from the assholes in the class, but I never did care about what they thought anyway. The only thing that still bothered me was Juan, Hector and Sally. None of them had made an appearance yet.

Almost on cue, Sally walked up with Tom. Although Sally was wearing a pool cover up, it looked like she had thrown it on over her nightgown. From the way that Tom and Sally were holding each other, you could see that they had been busy last night.

I won my bet with Jill. Sally's face lit up as soon as she saw the two of us together. It was obvious she was dying to find out what had happened. She didn't waste any time as she grabbed Jill and asked her to go up to the buffet line with her. Tom just stood there bemused. Sally had gone from clinging on him to ignoring him in a matter of seconds. I gave him a smile and waived him to a seat shrugging my shoulders at her behavior.

Sally and Jill never made it to the buffet. They stopped by the side of the pool and stood there talking. I could see Sally questioning Jill with an excited look on her face. After a few moments, Jill shook her head in disgust and in a loud voice told Sally to shut up.