Monopoly "money"

Readers,

This is Part 2 to Monopoly "Money." Again, it's a fictional story told in the first person by Gary Baker. Reading the first story is critical to understanding this part. All characters are WAY past the age of 18.

*****

After arriving at the airport in Honolulu, I hugged Shelly goodbye for the week. She was going to spend the week with Telly while I spent the week with his wife, Linda. Although I was reticent about the idea in the beginning, Linda kept assuring me that everything would be fine and that I'd have the best time of my life.

Neither my wife Shelly, nor I, had been to Hawaii before. This was the second time for Telly and Linda Robbins. Telly had insisted on covering the bill for the trip for all four of us. One hotel room was at one end of Kalakaua Ave. and the other was at the opposite end. One room was in his name, the other in Linda's name. The idea was to have as little chance as possible of running into each other during that week. That seemed a little extreme to me. If we ran into them while on one of our excursions, it wouldn't have been uncomfortable at all. I had accepted our liberal sex arrangement. Besides, if I had to be honest with myself, I really preferred the company of Linda over my own wife, Shelly. There was something wrong with that and I knew it; yet I wasn't ready to give up my time with Linda.

Our room, although not that big, was very nice. I later was told that most regular hotel rooms in that area were smaller than average. Still, it was fairly nice with a comfortable bed. The bathroom was small and the shower was barely big enough for one person, let alone two. Linda and I loved taking showers together, even if it didn't lead to sex. It was just that time alone under relaxing hot water and the joy of washing and rinsing each other. Of course, most of the time we showered together was when we had finished making love.

In the beginning, I could have ascribed my attachment to Linda as a novelty. It was new to both of us. We relished our time together. However, the novelty had worn off but we still craved time together. We seldom argued about anything. Our compatibility was amazing. Each of us had a strong desire to make the other happy. That element had been missing from our spouses. When Shelly and I were first married, we shared that attribute. It had been missing for at least 3 years before that fateful Friday night when our clothes came off while playing Monopoly with Telly and Linda. Linda shared a similar frustration that she had experienced with Telly. They used to pamper each other. It seemed their problems began even before ours. She had been a frustrated wife for a long time.

There had been a lot of giving on our part but so little on their part. It was too late to put the genie back into the bottle. Our lives were changed forever; whether that was a good thing or not.

We had been up since 4 that morning Los Angeles time. Between the early arising, the airport security waits, and the long 5 hour flight, I was tired and was determined to sneak in about an hour nap before walking around outside and enjoying the scenery.

Linda was tired also, but she wanted to get her laptop connected to the wi-fi and go online for a few minutes before joining me for a nap.

I stripped down to my boxers and stretched out on the king sized bed. I could see that Linda was watching something that resembled a video and there was soothing Hawaiian music in the background. That just about had me put to sleep when I heard Linda say loudly, "That son of a bitch. Lying little bastard."

That got my attention. So much for sleeping.

I sat up and moved closer to her so that I could see what had upset her.

On Kalakaua Avenue, there was a large statute of some guy that I think used to be some kind of surfer. Something like that. I remember Duke being part of his name. High up on a street post there was a webcam that broadcasted live crowd action all day long.

Right there, in front of the statute, was Telly and Shelly. Not just those two but Linda informed me that the younger brunette that Telly was next to...and grabbing her ass...was his brother Mike's girlfriend, Amber.

We watched them interact and Mike had his hands all over Shelly as well. He was freely grabbing at her ass and then he reached his head down and gave her a very passionate kiss.

"Gary, my husband tried to get me to join his brother and Amber in some extra sexual activity. I told him that I had no intention of letting Mike get near me and I wasn't going to approve of him playing around with Amber. He had plenty of action with Shelly and he could have had me more often if he wanted to."

"He apologized half-heartedly and promised to never bring it up again. He even said that if I wasn't interested then it was a dead deal for him as well."

"Look at those assholes, Gary. Look at them. I bet they have no clue that there's a webcam watching them."

I grabbed my cell phone and turned on the video recorder and got the best quality I could from the video stream on her computer. I saved slightly more than a minute of various interactions between the four of them. Most of it was Shelly and Mike getting overly friendly. About 15 seconds of it showed Telly cupping Amber's full tits while Mike took a picture of them. Amber was wearing a bikini top and very short pants. Shelly was wearing a low-cut sundress that revealed a great deal of cleavage. I had never seen her dress like that before in public.

We debated on how to confront them. We agreed that we were going to enjoy our week together. The confrontation could wait until we get home.

"I can only speak for myself Linda, but I have no desire to be married to that bitch anymore. She was crying and begging for forgiveness just a few months ago because of her behavior. Both of them seemed truly sorry for what they started. Now look at them. From now on, my friendship with Telly is history."

"I agree, Gary. Everything you and I have done has been with the consent of our mates. It was understood that the exchange of partners was just the four of us. I've learned now that neither of their apologies are worth a shit. But...what do we do?"

"I'm not sure," I stated with much doubt and confusion in my voice. "I just know that my marriage is over. Financially, it will be a big blow but I can't remain under the same roof as that woman. I'd rather live in a single wide trailer by the railroad tracks than to stay in that house."

"Gary, is it too much to ask you that whatever you do that we do together?" Linda asked with tears streaming down her face. "I may lose a husband and Shelly as a friend, but I don't want to lose your friendship. I don't have any concrete ideas right now, but I'm sure we can do something together to make the transition smoother for both of us."

"Of course, babe. I'm happy you feel that way also. I didn't want to ask you to do that. I don't know why, but I was afraid that you'd say no to the idea."

She looked at me with a shocked expression.

"Gary, I love you to pieces! You must realize that by now. I know we've never said those words to each other before, and that's as much my fault as yours. I know without a doubt that you love me."

"You bet I do...more than you realize. Shit, Linda, you've helped me keep my sanity for the past several months."

"For right now, let's quit talking about our shitty spouses and lay together here. Get naked for me. I'll remove my boxers. I just want to hold you."

We laid on the bed for at least another 2 hours. The first hour we talked about our situation and suddenly it was quiet and we were both asleep. Her head was on my chest and my hand was on her ass.

I could feel the tears from her eyes as my chest acted as a sponge to soak them up for her. I was on the verge of tears myself. I was so hurt. Angry. Disappointed. Desiring revenge. I ran the whole gamut of emotions...including a little bit of relief.

That's right. Relief. As disappointed and hurt as I was, I had been pushed to the point of taking action. Once I was determined to take that action...and had Linda join me...I felt some relief. I wasn't sure exactly what we'd do, but we'd do it together. Who knows, we may be sharing a tiny one bedroom apartment. I think we both knew that we would be together a lot more than ever before.

The brief nap seemed to revive our spirits. We took our showers and decided to walk several blocks to an ocean side restaurant where the patrons grill their own steaks. There's a huge salad and baked potato bar and several large grills. Each grill has dozens of different seasonings and sauces. They served our choice of steaks to our table, completely raw. I took them to the grill, seasoned the meats, and grilled them to our liking. That was a unique experience that we both enjoyed. Linda had eaten there in her previous visit over 5 years ago and highly recommended it.

There is one aspect of Linda's personality that I've always admired. She is often the voice of reason in times of chaos or confusion. While enjoying a long walk together along the beach that night, she offered a possible solution to our problems.

"Why must we act so quickly, Gary?" she asked. "I know we're hurt and angry but why let them steal our happiness?"

I wasn't sure what kind of alternative action she would suggest. I didn't feel like I had any other options. I wanted away from Shelly permanently.

"It's this simple. I know we want to nail them about their dishonesty and their failure to honor the agreement the four of us had. Is it really going to hurt us if we just let them think they've tricked us? No permanently, but we can go home to our spouses. There's no way in hell that I'm allowing Telly to get his dick anywhere near me. I can't imagine that you'd want to have anything to do with Shelly sexually either."

"You got that fucking right," I said, not realizing how loud I was and that others nearby probably heard me. "You're right. Sex with Shelly is past history, but why would I want to live with her."

"It's simple. Eventually, both she and Telly will wonder why we're so cold to them. Why we show no interest in sex. I know Shelly will call me and complain if you refuse any of her advances. We've been sharing that information since this whole thing began. We're making sure that our spouses are giving us adequate attention."

"The rest of it, we can play by ear. Maybe you can cast doubts on her faithfulness. She'll deny it, of course. Just pretend like that you don't know but just have strong suspicions. I'll do the same to Telly. Remember, they know the truth. They'll talk to each other and try to figure out how much we possibly know. That will drive those two nuts. I know Telly. He'll work like hell to find out how I might have caught on to him."

I couldn't help but agree. I could see Shelly doing the same thing. I could see her making phone calls to Linda, Telly, or even her sister wanting to know why I'd suggest something like that.

"Eventually, it will all come out. By that time, they will have lied several times about it. Until then, you and I can get together as often as we wish. You have a guest bedroom and so do we. Spend as many nights as you want at our house. I can stay at your place overnight as well."

"You see, they both want to stay married. The extra time we spend together will also aggravate them. I'm not saying that for sure that this will work. Maybe it backfires and they're okay with it? That could happen. If that's the case then we can figure out our next step. Let's have some fun with this, Gary."

I did like her idea. Still, as much as I loved being with Linda, this whole arrangement still bothered me. I'm not a prude, but to me my wedding vows meant something. I was content to remain faithful to Shelly for the remainder of my days. Suddenly, due to some careless behavior on that fateful Friday night, I found myself justifying my own infidelity because of hers.

I realize that all of this is consensual. At least among the four of us it is. Suddenly, Telly and Shelly have added more partners to their sex life. That was never agreed upon and Linda had told him so immediately after he tried to convince her to join his brother and girlfriend.

There was no doubt, after reviewing the video that I took off of the webcam site, that the four of them were involved in more than just tit, ass, and crotch grabbing. The kissing between Shelly and Mike was as intimate as it possibly gets. Judging by Shelly's often distant behavior at home the past month, I wouldn't be surprised that they had been together a few times before this trip to Hawaii.

The rest of the week was great for us. We didn't discuss our problems much at all. There were only a few passing references but we were determined to make the most of our time together. There were so many things to enjoy. We visited Pearl Harbor as well as the USS Missouri. We went to a luau and enjoyed a few mai tais and a perfect barbeque pork dinner with all of the fixings.

The Polynesian cultural center was also a fascinating visit. We also took a tour of the entire island, or what many call a "circle tour" around the perimeter of the island. We also had a fine night of dinner and dancing on a catamaran dinner cruise as well as many long, relaxing walks around Waikiki.

Our trip seemed to end much too soon. Before we knew it, we were packing our bags on Sunday morning and getting ready to take a taxi back to the airport.

Fortunately, we hadn't seen the others again during our trip. Sunday was the first day to see them after discovering they had taken on new lovers.

Both of us kept our promise to each other. We promised to be cordial but not too friendly. Mike and Amber weren't at the airport (or at least at our part of the airport) while we went through security and waiting for boarding.

I sat next to Shelly on the way home. It was 5 hours of discomfort for me. I didn't have much to say to her and any conversation that she initiated was cut short by shorter answers. I did my best to not scowl at her. I just feigned extreme fatigue and kept my eyes closed.

The truth is, I have never slept well on a plane. I just kept my eyes closed during much of the trip to discourage any conversation.

Linda and I compared notes once we got home. We spend a lot of time on our phones talking to each other. Both of our spouses suspected that something was wrong because neither of us showed any interest in their romantic advances and we seemed unusually distant.

We both had the excuse that we had worn each other out sexually on our trip. That seemed to work for the first couple of days, but by the weekend, that excuse had run its course. The fact is, we did have plenty of sex during our trip, but we were far from being too exhausted to do it again.

There was also a consideration when and if the time came that we ditched Telly and Shelly. That seemed inevitable...or was it?

Shelly had plenty of work to do once we got home. I knew that it would take her a few days to catch up. That was the real drawback of her home-based business. Whenever we took an extended vacation, even if only for a week, she would have work backed up by the time she got home.

The second week after our vacation was when things seemed to change.

I had a few chores of my own to do and that kept me busy. I talked to Linda on the phone several times during the first couple of days. By Wednesday, it seemed the calls were less frequent and shorter in length. I knew that Shelly had talked to Telly quite a bit so I wasn't sure what was going on.

Shelly insisted that the four of us get together at our house for pizza and some serious conversation. She was insistent about it but not mean or nasty. She just assured me that the four of us need to talk. I figured that this would be the "break-up" conversation that I knew would happen eventually. I had a video tape ready to show them what I knew about their Hawaii fun.

Telly sat with Linda and Shelly sat near Linda. They were getting along quite well, considering what Linda knew about their Hawaiian adventures.

Shelly was the first to talk.

"Gary, the first thing I have to say is on behalf of Telly as well. When we were in Hawaii, we hooked up with Telly's brother Mike and his girlfriend Amber. Yes, there was sex...lots of it. Gary, that was wrong. When we got back home, we talked for hours about how that you two had trusted us. This is the second time that we've blown it."

Shelly was nearly in tears. I noticed the pauses in her voice as she kept reaching inside to regain her composure.

"Gary, I remember when our baby was just a few months old. We barely had enough money back then to pay our bills. Groceries were almost a luxury back then, but we still had to buy diapers, formulas, and eventually some baby food. That didn't include the times that we had to get medicines. You did umpiring and refereeing in the evenings to make extra cash. I remember you and I would have a peanut butter sandwich or we'd throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and we'd call that dinner."

"I fell in love with that man that was willing to work so hard and sacrifice for his baby. Gary, I still think you're essentially still that same guy. What's happened is mostly the fault of myself and Telly. Telly agrees. If we had never started all of this, the four of us would still be friends, just like in the old times."

"Maybe so," I interrupted, "but no apology will bring us back to those days."

"That's a fact, Gary. Don't think I'm not aware of that."

I was touched by her recollection of our early days struggling to make ends meet. In spite of those times being tougher, they were much happier than our last few years together when we had a mortgage paid and plenty of disposable income.

"Gary," Telly added. "Everything Shelly said about this mostly being our fault is exactly how I feel. You've been a damn good friend to me for so many years. You deserved better. I can't change that now. What I want is to somehow keep our friendship."

"I know that you love Linda and don't want to give up what you two have. Linda has told me the same about you. I can also tell you that I love Shelly and the feeling is mutual. I really can't see any of us giving up what we have...and that includes not giving up our marriages."

"I agree," Linda added. "Shelly, I want you and Gary to not only just be married and co-exist under the same roof, I want you two happy together. Remember what we talked about yesterday? All four of us have to go back to being the kind of partner we were in happier times. Enjoy each other again...including sex. I assure you that Telly and I will...in fact we have already. We have accepted what has happened and are ready to enjoy it. I still want time with you Gary...it won't be daily like we talked about before..."

"Damn it, Shelly...Telly and I have shared similar times when money was really tight...yet we were so happy back..."

Linda was having trouble finishing her sentence. We all waited for her to regain her composure.

"Gary, I've never been so conflicted in my life. I love my husband dearly. Telly has been a changed man this past week after he told me about what happened in Hawaii. I didn't tell you because I was hoping that Shelly would. However, Shelly decided that the best time would be tonight...in front of her best friends. This wasn't done to embarrass you. I apologized privately to Linda but I wanted to do it in front of the group as well."

"You'd have to be at home with us to see the difference. Much different than the first time after he apologized. We are going to fight like hell to keep it going. I assure you, Gary, that this was the only way that I'd ever take him back. It's still young, but we're off to a good start."