Law of the Heart -the Witch Test

LAW OF THE HEART -- THE WITCH TEST

(Headhuntertales invited all writers to do an ending to his classic story. Nevertheless, I made the attempt to get permission from the author. I have no response after some weeks. So, I'm going ahead.

This effort uses the characters, and diverges sooner than most of them. It picks up in chapter three, when Jake is on the dock and sees Jill, his wife, bare breasted on the boat of the Mendoza brothers. Sally, her friend, and Steve and Meredith are also on the boat. Sally and Meredith are also bare breasted. People get off the boat. The women now have t-shirts on. The group walks toward Jake and his old companion Frank. Jake sees the Mendozas staring at his wife's ass as she walks. In the story Jake allows them to pass, and then follows along, sneaking around spying on his wife, until he sees her go into her room with Juan Mendoza. And later the brother Victor comes to screw Jill. The story got to many people, including me. Here's another take. Please read the original by Headhuntertales.)

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As Jill and Sally walked past me, I realized that she didn't recognize me. Juan and Victor then strode by, with Steve and Meredith. I got up and followed along. When they all got to the end of the dock, they stopped to confer as a group. Jill was standing next to Juan. He reached to hold her hand as they spoke. I notice that she was not wearing her rings. That tore it for me.

I walked up to the group.

"Hey, Juan, drop my wife's hand." They all turned in unison, but I was watching Jill. As she recognized me there was a fleeting look of disappointment, replaced quickly by a smile.

"Oh, Jake," she said, breathlessly, "we were all out for a boat ride."

"So I saw. A super duper ride, that old men with binoculars observe from the dock, so they can see all the tits. I borrowed the binocs. I saw the tits. In particular, Jill, my wife, I saw your tits. Wanna explain that?"

"Jake, it was nothing. Nothing happened. We were just on a boat ride. I was feeling free."

"Free of a marriage?"

Sally interrupted, "Jake, don't be a prude. Jill was having a good time."

I looked at Sally. "How much of a good time?" I looked at Steve and Meredith, "Same question to you guys."

Steve said, "Nothing happened. We smoked some weed. The girls took off their tops. That's all." Meredith nodded her head.

I looked at Juan and Victor, "Well?"

Juan said, "Much as I hate to say it, we never got beyond looking."

"I tell you what, Juan, I really don't care. What I saw was enough."

Jill gasped, "What do you mean? Jake, what are you saying?"

"Jill, did anything happen between you and these guys? Or any other guy?"

"NO!. NO!" She was starting to cry.

Juan said, "Leave her alone, man. You're overreacting."

I turned to Jill, "Why don't you and I go to the room. You do have a room by yourself, right?"

"Yes. Okay."

I took her hand, and we walked off. We made our way to a cabana along the beach. Jill opened the door.

I looked around. Housekeeping had been there. It was neat. Also, Jill hadn't looked spooked when we went inside. I saw no stray men's clothing. At least not in the open.

I motioned for her to sit on the couch, and I did an ostentatious search of the rooms, closets, drawers. Jill started to sob.

"Why are you doing that, Jake? I told you, no one was here with me last night. I didn't have sex on the boat. It was just fun."

"Tell me, Jill, if you had known that I was watching you on the boat, would you have taken off your top?"

"Yes.....no...I don't know. If you were on the boat....shit."

"What I think, Jill, my wife, is that you were feeling single and free. And, even if nothing happened on the boat, it would have happened tonight. What do you say?"

"I love you. Maybe I was feeling...free. But I wouldn't have crossed the line." She didn't seem all that sure.

"How long were you on the boat?"

"Since ten o'clock. Three or four hours, maybe."

"What did you do all that time?"

"Smoked weed, ate munchies, swam off the boat."

"Okay. Where are your rings?"

She looked at her hand. No rings. "I....Jesus. I must have left them on the boat. I took them off to swim. I'm so sorry. I can see how it would look to you. No top, no rings."

"Well, let's just pack up and go. We can spend more time with little Jake."

"I...I'd like to stay. With you. Have fun."

"What kind of fun do you think I can have, with Juan sneering at me and trying to get into your pants? No, we need to get home."

"Baby, if we stay, you and I can get some alone time. We need that. We could have alone time right now." She stood up and dropped her top, and her suit bottom. She wiggled at me. I got out of my clothes as fast as I could, with Jill helping. I picked her up and deposited her on the bed in the bedroom. I spread her legs and started licking her thighs. I moved from one to the other, then to her labia, and to her clit. She came in a minute or so, and I kept at it until she came again. Then I moved on top of her, and entered her quickly. She was bucking against me, and grunting. I felt her have another orgasm, very intense, squeezing and pulsing. I was pulled along and came deep into her.

We lay on the bed, next to each other. I wondered at her response, which seemed much more intense than our normal sex. I figured she had to be thinking of Juan. And, in some way, I couldn't blame her if she was. Juan was fit, tan, sleek, and handsome. I wondered if she had seen his cock when they swam off the boat. Something from the day had revved her up, and I bet it was Juan. But, the fact that she had no aversion to me going down on her, told me that she was telling the truth about the boat. No one had fucked her on the boat. And she kissed me willingly. So she hadn't given head, either. So far, so good.

I took stock of myself. I was pasty white and had gotten a little flabby. I wasn't as tall as Juan. I wasn't sleek, just strong. My cock probably wasn't as big, although it wasn't small. I didn't want to lose Jill, and become a part time father to little Jake. But if I had come down here to discover that she had fucked Juan, I would have kicked her to the curb, no doubt.

I said, "You know, if I had been a day later, you would have let Juan fuck you. And we'd be toast. No family. No marriage. I know you were thinking of him when we fucked, just now."

She was quiet. Then she said, "I can't deny that. That I was thinking of him. Sorry. He's very attractive and he's a dangerous boy. I don't know if I would have let him fuck me. If I thought I could get away with it? Probably. I guess we need to think things through."

I was sad, but also pleased that she was being honest.

"Why? We have a young child. We...I believe...we love each other. Why would you mess with that, for sex....?"

"I don't know. People aren't always rational. I'm not Spock. I'm Kirk. (She was a Star Trek fan). I can get carried away. And Juan....well.....he could carry me away. In a weak moment."

"Jill, I don't know what to do. I'm really jealous about this. I absolutely hate the idea that you want him so bad."

"I can just stay away from him."

"But he's not unique. There are other guys that would have that effect on you."

"You, too. What if your little assistant at work, Melanie, was out of town with you and snuck into your room to get fucked? You know you might do it, if you thought you could."

That little argument she made set us back quite a bit. I reacted quite negatively to it. I didn't think through why just then. I got up and took a shower. When I came out, there was a chill between us.

As I washed off, I considered her statement that I would fuck Melanie. I did like her, and she was very pretty and lively. I can't say I didn't fantasize about it, once in a while. But, I believed that I would NOT fuck her, even if the chance arose in a way that was safe from discovery. I would feel guilty. I would feel the guilt BEFORE it happened. And, I thought Jill would do it, and not feel guilty. She would regret it only if she got caught.

That was unacceptable to me. Yet I didn't know for sure that it was true.

"Are we going to the dinner and dance tonight?" She asked hopefully.

"Why not? What could happen?"

"I'll be good. You'll see. I'm only yours."

So, we went to the soirée. It was open bar at 7:00, dinner at 8:00, and dancing at 9:15. The reunion had set up snacks with the bar -- called canapes. Jill and I arrived at that room about 7:30. Steve and Melanie were there, talking to Sally. We walked up.

Sally turned, "Are you guys all over the boat trip?"

Jill said, "Sally, you're a trouble maker. Just leave it."

Steve asked if we needed drinks. I went with him to the bar. I got a white wine for Jill, and a lager for me. Steve did the same for Melanie and himself. As we walked back, I saw Jill and Sally off to the side talking with heads close. Melanie was a distance off. I went up to Jill, and she broke it off with Sally.

The very sight of that filled me with suspicion.

We had a nice ten minute conversation with Steve and Melanie about their family, and ours. Sally had wandered off. I saw her walk into the room with the Melendez brothers, one on either arm. The three were walking slowly, talking and gesturing. Victor's wife was behind them. Juan broke off and came up to Jill and me.

"I want to apologize to you, Jake, about the boat. Maybe things got a little carried away, but nothing really bad happened. It was unfortunate that you got the wrong impression."

"Yep. Sure was." I smiled at him. He looked disconcerted.

"What did you mean when you said that things got a little carried away? I thought it was only looking."

"That's all. Looking is all." He excused himself.

Jill took my arm. "You were a little rude. The boat thing wasn't his fault. He didn't ask us to strip."

"Baby, I was way less rude that I wanted to be. Please stay away from that guy, as we discussed."

"I will. Let's go into dinner."

When we got to the dining room, tables were set out -- eight tables of six. There were no names set out as to where to sit. Jill and I waited until we saw where the Melendez's were seated. Then we sat as far away as we could get. Steve and Melanie came to our table. We were joined by another couple, Harry and Lisa. Harry had been our classmate. He just barely graduated. But he had made bundles of money in Miami, with a law firm that advertised on TV, and did civil law. Dinner was pretty good. Jill and I had the salmon, with dill potatoes and asparagus. Cake for dessert. During the entire meal Harry expounded on how to make big bucks in the law. Between the main and dessert, Jill and Melanie excused themselves and went to the 'powder' room. I watched them. Sally was up and after them as they walked by. They were gone for fifteen minutes, returning only as dessert was being cleared. Sally sat down at Juan's table. The dance was announced. A bandstand was located at the other end of the large room. And a six piece band struck up a song -- "Grapevine." I asked Jill to dance, and out we went. We danced through three numbers, the last a slow one. Then we went back to our table, near the floor.

Juan came to our table and asked Jill to dance.

"Not a good idea, Juan." She gave him a smile.

"Your man has fears. Well, he should." Juan strode away.

I turned to Jill. "And, that's a wrap for us here, eh? Let's go."

"Why, I turned him down. He's a jerk. A good looking jerk, but still a jerk."

"Okay, lets dance some more." We did dance several numbers, and had some more wine. Then we excused ourselves, and went back to the cabana.

Jill said, "I had a good time. How about you?"

"Yep. Let's go to bed." I pulled her to me, and we surged to the bedroom, fell onto the bed where she attacked me, sticking her tongue in my mouth. We got out of our clothes and she had me on my back. She sat on my chest, breathing hard.

"I'm gonna fuck you half to death." She moved over my cock and impaled herself. She was wet and ready. We went at it, bucking and pushing. She had two orgasms, moaning. I came with her on the last one. She collapsed on me.

After a few minutes, she rolled off. "Well, I told you we'd have a good time if we went to the dance."

"You were right, babe."

I thought again that she was so wild because she was thinking of Juan. I wondered if I could ever get that out of my head. She hadn't done much of anything. She did admit to a sexual desire for him. She might have gone all the way with him, if I had been delayed another day. But I wasn't sure about that. At the very least she might have been deterred by the near certainty that I would find out about it. I knew many of these people, some well. Her dalliance would not have passed unnoticed.

The next day, after a breakfast with the class, we flew back to Boston. It was great to see little Jake. But I was quite depressed by the entire Juan episode. As I thought it through, I decided that Jill was likely to be okay here in Boston. She had structure here, a job, family, husband and so on. When she went to Miami, that was all gone for a brief time. It seemed like she was then overcome with the desire to be free of her structure. And...apparently that might have extended to her husband and family. At this point her job did not require travel. I began to rethink my career path. I had been working too much and not making enough at it. I began looking for something else. And I got back to the gym. After a month, things were basically back to normal, and I was a lot fitter. That helped us in bed. Enough time had passed that I didn't believe that Jill was always fantasizing about Juan.

I took a job with a real estate firm. It paid much more than the PD, and I had basically nine to five hours. It wasn't as pressed as what Jill had at her firm. So, I saw a lot of little Jake. After six more months, we decided that we might try for another child. Jill's firm had a pretty good family leave program, and she was all for it. At thirty-six, Jill wanted to get childbearing over with. Betty came along shortly. She was a lovely child, and we moved into a newer house in the suburbs, so both kids could have a room.

Jill went back to work full time as Betty turned one. She was thirty-eight and still a knockout. I had moved up in our firm, and was now managing the settlement operation. Things seemed smooth and good. When that happens, watch out.

Two Years Later

One day Jill came home a bit late, and looking a little apprehensive.

"You seem on edge," I said. "What's up?" The kids were making a lot of noise.

"The firm has a new client. I have to do some travelling to line up their business. You won't like it, though."

"Why?"

"The client is Mendoza Legal from Miami."

"And that means Juan and Victor? They are going to be clients?"

"Yes. And big ones. They have a high volume operation and they have bought two firms here. They want our firm to supervise operations. It's a lot of business for us.

"Where do you stand on this? You must know how I'd feel about it."

"I....I believe you should be able to trust me to work with the Mendozas without....becoming otherwise involved. I can do that."

"What would your role be?"

"The Mendozas have said that they chose our firm because they knew me. The deal depends upon me being available full time to oversee the Boston operation. I tried to tell Rob Reynolds that I couldn't do it. That I had personal reasons. But he said that if not me, the Mendoza form would look elsewhere. I'm between a rock and a hard place here."

"Resign. I can get you work at our firm. You'd be doing routine settlements, and it would be a day job. More time with the kids. If you do the other, you'd never be home."

"We can talk about it later, when the kids are in bed."

I had a dinner on. I served it up while Jill showered. We had a nice time with the kids, got them clean, read stories, put them to bed. But I was on edge the entire time. I thought Jill should have told me that she quit already. She didn't. So, I was anticipating the worst. Especially when she said that I should trust her to do it.

"Jake, I don't want to resign. I also don't want to mix with the Mendozas, but it can't be helped. I'll take some measures to prevent ---- slippage."

"Are you still hot for this guy? Have you seen him lately to know?"

"He was here yesterday. I saw him, and we spoke. I was shocked. He had been in with the big boss. He asked me out to lunch, but I declined."

"You didn't answer the first question."

"Yes. Somewhat. I have to be honest with myself, so I don't get caught up. I've been trying to think about what can be done to allay your fears.....and my temptation."

"And? Suppose I believe that you would like to...abstain. So what? You might let him get you anyway, if you want it badly enough. I don't believe that you'd toss the family away. But if you thought you could get away with it? Maybe."

"I can simply always see him at the office, and with other people."

"Well, I don't want you to have any part of it. It'll make my life a constant mess, filled with suspicion."

"You just don't trust me. I'm forty. I'm a mother. I'm not a foolish girl."

"You were a mother in Miami. But still a foolish woman."

"I can talk to Mr. Reynolds. I'll make it clear that you...that I need some safety measures."

"We can both talk to him. Please set it up."

"What can you say to him? I don't like it."

"Please set it up."

The meeting was set for lunch the next day. I offered to take them to the Ranch, a steak place. Reynolds, I knew, loved it.

I was seated at a booth when the two of them arrived. Reynolds was about sixty, gray, small, but really sharp. He didn't dress up. He didn't make any effort to establish a dominant position. I had always liked him. We shook as he sat down, and Jill sat next to me.

We made small talk, mostly about the Celtics upcoming season. We ordered. Reynolds had a filet, and so did Jill. I ordered a Cobb salad.

I said, "Mr. Reynolds..."

"Call me Rob."

"Rob, I have some real concerns about Jill's proposed new role at your firm. Those concerns revolve around Juan Mendoza. The three of us all went to law school together. Mendoza spent the entire time trying to seduce Jill. It's a wonder he graduated. But Jill resisted, and then we got together. At our tenth reunion, some things happened that made me mistrustful of both Jill and Juan. It came close to ending our marriage. It was just luck, I think, that saved us, even though we had young Jake. I'm just not comfortable with Jill working closely with Juan Mendoza. Especially since he apparently made her a pre-condition of the deal."

"I see. Jill, do you also see a problem, to put it obliquely."

"I understand Jake's fears."

Rob said, "It's a huge opportunity for you. But, more to the point, it's likely to be a big money maker for the firm. I really would hate to pass that up. What can we do?"

"How much contact would there be between Juan and Jill?" I looked at Rob.

"To start, probably a lot. I don't want to pry, but I need to assess the actual problem, not some vague idea of it. I assume. For now, that Jill is attracted to Juan, and he to her. What I don't know is your attitude, Jake. Do you fear that Juan will steal Jill away, cause a split? Or is it that you just fear that he and Jill will have some fling?"

"Both. Well, I don't see her leaving us, the family, to go live with him. He's an asshole. But I WILL NOT TOLERATE EVEN ONE SLIP!" I wasn't shouting this. "I cannot stand the idea that she will fuck the guy. To put it directly. If it happens, we're toast." I looked directly at Jill. "Just so you know."

"I won't do it, Jake." Jill was tearing up.