No Escaping the Consequences

This is a scenario that I've had in my head for a while and I just couldn't put off writing anymore. I should warn you that it is a dark BTB-type story. If that bothers you, then read no further and go elsewhere. This is my morbid take on the trope of a husband coming home to find that his wife is about to go on a date with another man. There is no sex, and there is no happy ending. I am including the BTB tag because, in a way, the bitch is punished.

This is officially my first published story (I'd published a story and then retracted it until it may be completed,) so constructive criticism only, please? I've done my best to stamp out any grammar or spelling errors.

It also involves suicide, so if that's a trigger for you, read no further.

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David was lucky to have been given the Friday afternoon off early. Even the traffic on the 610 cooperated, which surprised him.

He was an executive in the oil & gas industry who worked downtown, but he commuted back and forth from The Woodlands each morning and afternoon. He and his wife, Traci, were empty-nesters now that their two children, Zack and Aubrey, were grown and out of the house; Aubrey had married and begun her own family while Zach was a Sophomore at U of H.

Pulling into the garage everything appeared as it should be, but everything was about to change once he entered his home.

Walking through the house to the master bedroom, he called for his wife to let her know that he was home.

"Traci," he raised his voice, "Sweetheart, I got off early and came righ..."

David noticed Traci was in the adjoining bathroom primping and preening in the mirror above the sink. She'd already attached one of her diamond earrings to her left earlobe and was adding the right as he walked toward the bathroom door.

She was ravishing in her short, black dress. Even at 44, she nearly had the same body that she'd had when they'd met in college and fell in love. Slightly shorter than him with medium-sized breasts which were being pushed out by the bra she was wearing. The dress hung open in the back, exposing the back strap of the bra and a little of her back.

"Oh," Traci said, "Hi, honey, I was expecting you to be home so soon."

Noticing her dress and appearance, he wondered if he'd forgotten an anniversary or scheduled dinner party. Maybe they were just going to enjoy an evening out to spice up their marriage?

"You look beautiful!" David said, honestly admiring his wife of 22 years, "Are we going out to dinner?"

Traci gave her husband a little peck on the lips as she moved past him and into the master bedroom.

"Thank you, honey, you're so sweet," she said accepting the compliment, "We're not going anywhere, I am."

David stood, stunned.

"Are... are you going out with friends or co-workers to something?" he asked, trying to figure out why his wife should be getting dressed to the nines if it weren't to go somewhere as a couple.

Turning her back to her husband briefly she asked for assistance.

"Honey, would you be a dear and zip me up? She asked. Borne of decades of conditioning and experience, he complied and zipped up the zipper on the back of the little, black dress. He noticed that the hem barely ended mid-thigh. He couldn't fathom why she would be dressed so if not for a night out with her husband.

Turning to face David, she once again kissed him, this time a little more intimately. She did, after all, love him. She'd been married to him since she was in her twenties. They'd raised two wonderful children together. He'd been a wonderful provider and his income allowed her to live a lavish lifestyle of pools and spas, and lunches with friends and concerts, but she was enamored of another man and was feeling stifled. Actually, bored with her current life and ready to add an additional aspect to it, was more like her feelings at the moment.

"No, honey, I'm going out on a date," she began to explain. She knew this would be the moment that would wound David, but he'd grow to understand and get used to it. Jason had assured her that he'd be angry and sulk for weeks after their weekend plans, but once she returned next week he'd see that she was the same Traci that he'd partnered with so many years ago and things would return to normal. She'd just have to soothe his bruised ego with some serious sex and pampering.

"I wasn't expecting you home before I left, so I've written out everything in a note," she said, nodding to a small note, written on her stationery, lying on the bedspread.

"It explains how Jason and I plan to go out to a fabulous dinner, followed by dancing, and then... well..."

David felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. His shoulders and forearms tingled with a burning sensation. He could barely register what she was saying.

"Wa-a what do you mean?! You're going on a date with your boss, then you're going to go home with him and fuck?! Over my dead body!!"

"David," she said, condescendingly, like she was explaining to a child, "That's such a crude word to be using, but yes, he and I are going to spend the weekend together. He'll be here to pick me up and I'll be home after I get off work Monday like normal. I've prepared several meals and put them in the refrigerator and left instructions on how to prepare them."

She continued, "I know this is jarring, but it's just something I feel I have to do, and when I come home we'll go back to normal like nothing ever happened. You'll see..."

"The fuck you're going anywhere with another man! I will not have you cuck me and throw away 22 years of marriage over a weekend fuckfest!"

"David, it's just sex and a little fine dining and dancing. It's nothing compared to those 22 years of marriage. I'll come back and you and I will grow old together. I think you owe me just a few days of fun after all these years."

Traci's phone made a pinging sound and she opened her little purse, took it out, and glanced at the message.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, Jason's outside and waiting."

She attempted to give her husband a kiss but he would none of it. They were in the middle of a life-changing argument and he would not be dismissed like his wife was just leaving for work!

"No!" he yelled as she turned and walked out into the hallway toward the living room, "I will not excuse you!"

She moved from the living room into the foyer and opened the large, thick front door, and could see her employer's black BMW in the driveway. She opened the glass door and stepped out onto the porch, with David hot on her heels.

"Don't be silly, David," she told him while walking toward Jason's car, facing away, "I'll call you every now and again to check on you. It's the least I could do. And David? If you go out drinking to get it out of your system, do give your keys to the bartender, won't you?"

Traci turned and faced her husband one last time.

"I do love you and I want you to know that I'll be back Monday night, and you can reclaim me then. You'll see: This will be just a minor bump in the road compared to my love for you."

"Now, goodnight," Traci said as she turned and moved toward the passenger side of Jason's car.

"TRACI!" David yelled, "IF YOU GET IN THAT CAR, OUR MARRIAGE IS OVER!!"

It didn't seem to faze her a bit. She pulled on the handle and opened the door. Her rich boyfriend was in the driver's seat, smirking at the puny man that he was enjoying cucking.

"TRACI! NO!" David tried again, "I will NOT allow you to leave with this asshole! Do you hear me?!"

She got into the seat and closed the door, leaning over to give a short kiss to her paramour for the weekend. Jason had told her it was only for the weekend, but his plans were to sink the hook now and keep coming back for more later... at work... after work... maybe even in this cuck's own marital bed? Wouldn't that be sweet?" he thought.

Traci leaned back and put on her safety belt, ready to go have a night of fun followed by passionate sex.

"I WILL NOT LET YOU LEAVE WITH HIM!" David yelled, loud enough to be heard through the windshield, as he leaned his face over it.

Seeing that Jason was putting the gear into reverse and back away from the home, David made a split-second decision that he would NOT be made a fool by these two. He knew, instinctively, that his marriage was irrevocably broken, but he would not allow this humiliation to continue.

Reaching toward the concealed carry holster in the small of his back, he unholstered a Springfield Armory XD-S Mod Compact.45 that he always carried for protection. He aimed down and fired one bullet into the front passenger tire before swinging the handgun left and shooting out the rear passenger tire, as well.

"YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITH THIS MAN!" David yelled.

Traci didn't know what to think. She was afraid David would shoot her and Jason next. She instinctively pulled toward the interior of the car and her hands went up toward her chest.

Jason, however, was furious. No one was going to disable his BMW, especially not this little shit of a man. His door flew open and the large man stepped out and slammed the door behind him, giving him a clearer path to kill this little pipsqueak.

"You piece of shit! I'm going to kill you!" Jason growled, lunging toward David in an effort to fight.

He shouldn't have said that. David took a shooting stance and fired two bullets in Jason's center mass in self-defense.

The bullets tore through Jason's ribs, lungs, and heart, felling him almost instantly. Since he'd had forward momentum he fell forward, landing hard on the cement driveway. If he'd lived, he would have had a concussion from that fall, but he was dead before he hit the ground. Probably.

The passenger door flew open and Traci raced out of the car.

"NO!!" she cried, "JASON!"

Traci raced to the man as if to render aide, but aide was not necessary nor could she have done anything to save her fuckbuddy now.

"What did you do?!" she yelled, alternately looking between David and Jason's body.

Tears were streaming down both their faces, but for different reasons.

"I told you that I wouldn't let you leave with him," David explained, "Then he tried to kill me... so I killed him."

After the explanation of his actions, he turned his thoughts to a world without the love of his life.

"Traci, how could you? How could you abandon our marriage? How could you humiliate me? You say that you love me, but a woman who loves her husband would never forsake him in such a humiliating way."

Neighbors had heard the yelling first, followed by the four gunshots, and several had called 911. The Police would be arriving in several minutes.

David could lay down his firearm, go to jail, call his lawyer, and probably be released without charges because he acted in self-defense, although with dubious circumstances. But what good would it do? The woman he loved more than life itself had rejected and humiliated him, the house would be empty, and he would be alone, all alone. Yes, he had children and grandchildren, but they weren't reason enough to continue living.

Traci would be alive, yes, but she could probably never forgive him for shooting Jason, and he could never forgive her for getting into the car to go away for fucking another man. Why keep living?

"How could you?! How could you, David?! I was going to come back and everything would be okay!" Traci sobbed her rationalization.

"How could you, Traci?! You've killed me. You've destroyed me. You were my everything!" David spoke in the past tense. "You were my whole world. You've broken my heart! You're as necessary to me as air, and now you've fucked that all up? For what?! A few days fucking this piece of shit?! I cannot live without you, Traci. I hope it was worth it for you."

After saying his peace, David knew there were 3 more rounds in the magazine, but he only needed one.

David turned the handgun upwards, placed it against the soft palate of his throat, and pulled the trigger. The back of his skull shattered and large portions of his brain fell back onto the grass behind him.

"NOOOOOO!" Traci stood and lunged toward her husband trying to stop what she could sense he was doing, but it was too sudden. It was too late to be concerned about the man she claimed to love. His body crumpled onto the pavement in from of the car. She found herself lying between two dead men.

She'd switched from being concerned with Jason to falling against the chest of her now-dead husband.

"Nooo! Nooo! Nooo! Nooo! It wasn't supposed to be this way! This can't be real! This can't be happening. David! David! Honey!"

Traci began a litany of terms of endearment for the man whose life she'd destroyed but thought she loved, punctuated with pleas for forgiveness that he'd never be able to give her. She cried without ceasing as the Police appeared and lifted her up to get to David's body to check if he might be saved.

The Police called for three ambulances: One to carry Traci to the hospital for examination, one for David's lifeless body, and one for Jason's body. David and Jason would be pronounced DOA and their bodies were taken to the Houston morgue.

Traci was inconsolable. She was the cause of two men dying, and one was the man she'd lived with and loved for decades, the man she'd grow old with. He was supposed to die in his bed of old age and she'd either join him shortly thereafter, or he'd be buried beside her, together for all eternity. Now, faced with her betrayal and a life without her he'd opted to choose the time and manner of his death now, as she watched.

Traci was lucid enough at the hospital to tell the staff the names of her children and she'd unlocked her phone so they might call them. She'd been in no condition to do much of anything. She was crying and gesturing and crying some more before a nurse brought her several pills in a small paper cup with a cup of water to wash them down.

She fell into a deep sleep and was still asleep when Zack and Laurie appeared by her side. They did not know what had happened, they only knew that their father had committed suicide and that their mother had been highly agitated because she'd witnessed it, and thus had to be sedated. As a precaution, the nurses strapped her in her bed, and there was talk of putting her on a suicide watch, as well.

Zack and Laurie sat on the uncomfortable furniture in her room, awaiting her first waking moments. They decided together not to press for details but rather just support their mother.

Traci had woken up, looked at her children who were now standing around her, and all she could do was cry. She'd fucked up her life, her husband's life, and also her children's life. She knew they'd find out what she'd done eventually and why their father did what he did. And she rightfully feared that they'd resent her until her dying day for her actions.

She had to be sedated several more times after that, but after several days she rode with Aubrey to her home. She and her husband, with their children, would allow Traci to live in their guest bedroom until a decision could be made about the family home. At first, it was just a crime scene, but later, even after the blood had been hosed away to the gutters and then the sewer, Traci could not bear to return to their home.

After several weeks, the decision for her children to return to the house and pack up what could be packed up. David's clothes and things would be given to Goodwill, and several mementos and his things were packed away for a time to better view them, once the scars had healed somewhat. Then the house was sold.

Traci received money from the sale of the house, as well as David's 401k and their savings. His life insurance denied her claim because David had taken his own life, voiding the policy.

Her children rented a small, 600 sq ft one bedroom apartment near Aubrey, and moved her into it. Anything that wouldn't fit comfortably was placed in storage.

Both Zack and Aubrey learned of the circumstances of their father's suicide and their mother being the cause, and although they didn't turn their backs on her, the relationships were forever highly damaged. Spending time with their mother became more of a burden to be endured, rather than a happy time with one's parent.

Traci, herself, was also forever broken. She'd found a job and worked during the day, but her co-worked learned of her life story and never really accepted her into their circle of friends. Traci began attending church, and joined a life group. After attending several she felt it necessary to share with the group her life story and the tragic events. She would need to be completely honest with them if she were ever going to be accepted and helped overcome her feelings of grief and shame.

She would frequently just go home after work and sit on her couch, with her cat in her lap and having the TV on, but not really watching.

She also frequently cried herself to sleep, remembering David's last words to her and she'd selfishly and stupidly inflicted pain on the man she loved. She felt that she didn't deserve love and never dated again. She'd wake up with nightmares of that afternoon, reliving the events but never being able to alter them in her mind.

Traci lived until she was 62. She died, malnourished, frail, and generally in poor health of a cardiac arrest in her sleep, in her apartment. After failing to reach their mother by phone, Zack let himself into the apartment to find his mother had passed away.

She had died of a broken heart, in more ways than one. After some debate, Zach and Aubrey agreed that their mother had mourned and grieved enough, and although they couldn't bring themselves to say that she deserved it, they nonetheless had her buried to the side of their father.